MOSS BEACH, Calif. —

It’s not hard to understand why someone would want to buy a house in Moss Beach’s Seal Cove neighborhood, where picturesque cliffs and sweeping ocean views look like the postcard for the Northern California coast.

But depending on where you are standing, that view can drastically change. For example, from one house, the western-facing window frames a crooked horizon. Turn to the north, and the horizon disappears altogether, forcing you to stare directly down into the depths of the ocean.

Geological issues have been documented in Seal Cove for decades. The bluff the neighborhood sits on arose from the ocean tens of thousands of years ago and is made of loose sediment.

“These are small underground faults in this sandy, gravelly material,” said Cliff Voss, a retired h

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