Untrue. They represent only a part of the talented people. I know, we constantly hear about the quirkiness of people at the freelance sites and forums. Perhaps, that's not the best place to look.

If you're not looking for an overtly complicated project, try hiring undergraduate students. Not from any university though. Try the students IIT's and BITS Pilani. These are the foremost technical institute in the country. So, how do get in contact with them? Visit their Computer Science Association websites, contact their student president to help you out. More often than not, you will find brilliant programming talent this way. Some of them will value a letter of recommendation (that may help in their MS or PhD) very highly.

If not that way, always insist on seeing the portfolio/previous work of the guy you'll be outsourcing too. Else chances are you might end up outsourcing, say a e-commerce implementation, to someone just learnt how to echo in php.