If Hanley couldn't find his seller a buyer that was willing to put so much money down there were only two options: have the buyer pay the $50,000 penalty on top of their nearly $4-million purchase or have the seller take the money off the price tag.

"Somebody was going to eat that cost," Hanley says. "And it's hard to pass that onto the buyer if the seller's not willing to pay it."

Hanley notes that sellers hope for 30% down, so asking for 70% could be stretching it a bit, to say the least.

One reason the buyer may have had little problem putting so much money down, according to Hanley, is that the North San Diego County's retail market is strong and promising. And owning property in a high-demand, low-supply area also means that sellers typically have numerous offers from investors hoping to break into the tight market.

"There's not a lot of turnover here," he says. "[North San Diego County] is highly sought after because the area's growing and property values are appreciating. There's lots of opportunity here and Vista's been a city with a well established demographic and growing population."

Although experts believe the North San Diego County market will remain strong, Hanley predicts that buyers are looking for higher returns while sellers aren't and won't be willing to lower their prices to make that possible.

"The unique thing with San Diego is there's not a lot of velocity," Hanley says. "So when something comes to the market it has a lot of buyers and that will keep prices high."