Nobody moves to La Quinta expecting to love July. The brochure version of desert living — the American Express tournament, Sunday polo, the Saturday farmers market, a packed Old Town calendar — is a winter story. July is the part people assume they'll just endure.

And then they spend …

The buyers making moves in La Quinta right now don't look much like the buyers of three years ago. They're not chasing urgency. They're not skipping inspections. They're not writing offers sight unseen on the basis of a Zillow estimate. They're doing something that …