On the La Jolla thing. I have a collegue I was at a dinner with the other day who bought there in 2006. I heard him telling someone at dinner about the market there and that “it is immune from the downturn and prices are going up and will keep going up.”
I would say the majority of new sellers feel this way, as if they have been stuck in 2004-2005 and living under a rock before they decided to list. Let them wake up for a few months before you reveal interest in their property. In some cases, it takes much much longer. There are lots of examples on the market right now.