con't. SPOT LANDSCAPING RED FLAGS

"Keep it as simple and easy as possible," Welles says.

Don't analyze the situation and diagnose the problem, Welles cautions. Note the visual problem and counsel the buyer to have it checked by a professional.

In addition, don't verify representations made by others. From zoning and building issues to boundaries, permits, and property lines, attribute representations to the correct source-with statements such as "according to the multiple listing service" or "according to the assessor's records"-and direct the buyer to the appropriate venue for verification.

Protect Yourself Against Liability
Cost can sometimes sway an informed buyer from investigating further. However, when a bigger issue crops up, Welles says some buyers will sue because they feel that they were misadvised.

So note every visual landscape issue in writing and have the buyer acknowledge receipt of the information by initialing the individual comments and signing the document.

This way, the buyer is hard-pressed to say, "the salesperson told me," or "never bothered to tell me," or "glossed over that issue," says Spilger, who helped the San Diego Association of REALTORS® create the Agent's Visual Inspection Checklist.

The checklist was designed to help San Diego's real estate community meet their legal duty to conduct reasonably competent visual inspections of the normally accessible areas of a property and reduce their exposure to lawsuits.

Welles says most problems arise when a sales professional says something is in good or bad condition when it's not.

"You want to make sure the buyers are educated and make informed decisions," Welles says. "But to keep themselves from being that super source, [real estate professionals] need to force the buyer to investigate further. Because when the practitioner becomes the source, they become the source of the mistake and the source of the lawsuit."

Foster agrees. Despite her knowledge of trees from her previous career, she says, "I'm not a landscape expert or a tree expert. But if I see something that warrants an expert to come look at it, I tell my client."