It's a price you pay and an agreement you join in willingly. Older people like rules and control, where you live is pretty important and rules keep out the riff raff
In theory, HOAs can be wonderful things: they keep a neighborhood looking nice. Imagine paying $800,000 for a home only to have someone move in across the street that never cuts their grass, and allows their yard to become a suburban junkyard. Your property value would plummet.
The problem, and the danger, is when HOAs become run by a bunch of control freaks that are bored and have nothing better to do than ride around looking for "infractions." That's when they become like something out of a George Orwell novel.
An old friend bought a lot in a established neighborhood.. a few years ago a rush filled up most of the half finished neighborhoods.. the builders didn't make the same mailboxes anymore so no way his could match the older ones... The HOA was pissed
Some people like living in a neighborhood where all the mailboxes look the same. Some people like living in a neighborhood where the neighbors can't own chickens, a rooster or other things that get classified as livestock.
Our HOA has dues of $25 a year per house, and that covers the electricity bill to a streetlight, maintenance of the entrance structures, and property tax on a small piece of land that no individual owns but is part of our HOA. We also have a neighborhood watch.
The fact that there's an HOA is disclosed in the paperwork you sign when buying a house. You could also ask the realtor when he/she is showing you houses. Some HOAs have petty people ho put a lot of effort into getting elected to "The Board" and delight in telling people that their car is parked too close to (or too far from) the curb, or that the potted plant on their porch violates some rule. I like just having the streetlight so visitors know where to turn to get to our neighborhood.
.. With blackjack and hookers.
The problem, and the danger, is when HOAs become run by a bunch of control freaks that are bored and have nothing better to do than ride around looking for "infractions." That's when they become like something out of a George Orwell novel.
Our HOA has dues of $25 a year per house, and that covers the electricity bill to a streetlight, maintenance of the entrance structures, and property tax on a small piece of land that no individual owns but is part of our HOA. We also have a neighborhood watch.
The fact that there's an HOA is disclosed in the paperwork you sign when buying a house. You could also ask the realtor when he/she is showing you houses. Some HOAs have petty people ho put a lot of effort into getting elected to "The Board" and delight in telling people that their car is parked too close to (or too far from) the curb, or that the potted plant on their porch violates some rule. I like just having the streetlight so visitors know where to turn to get to our neighborhood.