What is the exam-ready answer?
| Official syllabus topic | Land-Use and Development Red Flags |
|---|---|
| Official PSI area | Property Disclosures |
| Published area weight | 7% of the 100-question national portion |
| Exam portion | National salesperson portion |
| Source edition | PSI Georgia Candidate Information Bulletin dated July 1, 2026 |
The Rule
PSI publishes the weight for the complete content area, not a fixed question count for this lesson. Learn the rule well enough to apply it when PSI changes names, numbers, or parties in a new scenario.
The lesson
These ideas work together. On the exam, the wrong answers usually describe a nearby concept, so learn where each one stops.
Use and approval
Current zoning labels alone may not resolve overlays, conditional-use limits, density, setbacks, parking, occupancy, or whether an existing use was lawfully established.
Access and infrastructure
Physical access is not necessarily legal access. Water, sewer, septic, power, road maintenance, and stormwater capacity affect buildability and cost.
Environmental constraints
Flood zones, wetlands, buffers, contamination, protected habitats, and soil conditions may limit or reshape development without making all use impossible.
Private controls and division
Covenants, association documents, easements, and subdivision approvals can impose controls beyond zoning. A tax parcel is not proof that a lot is separately buildable.
Decision rule
Georgia-specific distinction
Worked example
Scenario. A buyer wants to operate a wedding venue on rural land because the listing calls it commercial potential.
Reason it through. Marketing language does not establish zoning, event approval, traffic, septic, fire, noise, or private-covenant compliance.
Answer. Use a feasibility contingency and verify every required approval before the buyer's deadline.
Common exam traps
- Treating a tax parcel as a buildable lot
- Promising rezoning
- Equating physical driveway with legal access
- Assuming rural land has no controls
Original practice questions with detailed explanations
These questions were written for instruction and mapped to the current outline. They are not copied from PSI or any live examination. Choose an answer before opening the explanation.
Question 1A buyer plans to open a small office in a house on a parcel zoned for mixed use and asks whether the zoning label settles the question. What is the best answer?
- A. Yes, a mixed-use label allows any office without review
- B. Yes, as long as the seller ran a business there before
- C. No, overlays, permits and covenants may also apply
- D. No, business uses in Georgia need state approval
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: C. No, overlays, permits and covenants may also apply
A zoning label alone does not resolve overlays, conditions, parking, permits or private restrictions, so the buyer needs official written verification for the specific use. The seller's prior use looks plausible, but it may never have been lawfully established.
Question 2A rural parcel's only route to the road is a dirt track across a neighbor's land, and no easement is recorded. What should the licensee tell the buyer?
- A. Visible use may not be legal access; check title and survey
- B. The track creates legal access because it is visibly used
- C. The neighbor's verbal okay is enough to secure access
- D. The tax parcel number proves the lot has legal access
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: A. Visible use may not be legal access; check title and survey
Physical access is not necessarily legal access, so recorded rights and title and survey work are needed. The visible track is the trap: use alone does not prove a right the buyer can rely on, finance or insure.
Question 3A buyer will pay full price for a tract only if it can be divided into four building lots. How should this be handled?
- A. Rely on the listing agent's word that splits are common
- B. Make the contract contingent on written county approval
- C. Close first and apply for the division afterward
- D. Treat each existing tax parcel as a buildable lot
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: B. Make the contract contingent on written county approval
When a use is critical to the deal, turn it into a written due-diligence question for the agency with authority and make the contract conditional on the answer. Closing first is plausible for speed, but it leaves the buyer bound if approval is denied.
Ready to move on?
You are ready for the next lesson when all of these are true.
- Explain Land-Use and Development Red Flags in one clear answer without notes.
- Separate Use and approval from Access and infrastructure using a fresh example.
- Apply the decision rule to a new fact pattern and name the fact that controls the result.
- State the Georgia-specific point or explain why the national rule applies unchanged.
- Answer every practice question and explain the rule each rejected option misapplies.
- Revisit this topic later in mixed practice without category labels.
Recommended next lesson
Continue with Environmental Hazards and Disclosure. Environmental Hazards and Disclosure narrows in on the flood, wetland and contamination limits named here and matches each hazard, including radon and pre-1978 lead paint, to its testing or disclosure pathway.
Return to the Property Disclosures hub to see every official branch and the complete lesson sequence for this content area.