[Porsche-O-Phile]

F HOAs. I'll never live anyplace with one and can't understand why people would opt to do so. No amount of perceived "property value protection" is worth the BS that some of them put people through - and even if they're fine at the outset, all it takes is a few new members elected to really make it a nightmare situation. Besides, the potential losses in property value that they supposedly hedge against are trivial these days compared to general market pressures which are way beyond their control or influence, so it's a non-argument as far as I'm concerned.

I'd rather take my chances with idiot neighbors than a nazi HOA (which all either are already or have the potential to morph into without warning). An idiot neighbor with 3' tall crabgrass and 12 rusted-out pickups on blocks in his front yard (or who wants to paint my wall baby-poo yellow) I can deal with easier than a bunch of uptight prick control-freaks with nothing better to do than sit around and figure out how to make everyone else's life miserable.

Not worth the effort or expense. If you like living in a place where everyone else does all the work/upkeep and want to be saddled with arbitrary rules/restrictions and pay for it all, then go get a unit in a management-company-run apartment building somewhere.