I would NEVER have bought such a house here. Not a chance, I didnt see it but it doesnt sound like your judgement was any better than the other guy. Those houses lose yards, garages, retaining walls, embankments all the time. ANd then the city or county has to bail them out.
I've bought 2 houses here in the greater Seattle area and I MADE SURE I wasnt on a cliff, under a cliff, on a beach (couldnt afford that anyway but didnt want it either), on or near a river or even in a floodplain. I also made sure I didnt buy a brick or mostly stone house as they do very poorly in earthquakes. Neither of my houses had huge trees directly over them. (And our trees are huge...in windstorms, branches bigger than trees in other places come down on your houses and cars).
I actually have some drop-dead views from my place...but just peek a boo from the house...you have to go out to the pasture for clear views of the mts....
The danger I will face in the future is wild fire or forest fire...because I do eventually want to move further out...that's going to be a tough call.