We live in a community with a HOA and overall, I would say it has helped keep the community looking nice which has helped with home prices. The bad part is all the internal bickering between the HOA board members.
I have lived in my first, AND LAST, HOA community! Never again! I would gladly pay a 50% price premium for a non HOA house, but they simply don't exist in our area. The city WILL NOT issue new building permits to developers for non HOA developments. Moved here from across the country for work. Had no experience or knowledge about HOAs. It "seemed" like an OK idea when explained by the realtor and we needed a house so we bought in (not that there was much in the way of alternatives). The first 10 years things went OK. The HOA maintained the common areas and pretty much left everyone alone unless there were gross violations. Then, the "wrong" people got control of the board and we found ourselves in the HOA from hell. Tyrannical doesn't begin to describe it. They actually issued schedules for when homeowners were going to trim their trees, chemicals that you were to use on your lawns/plants, and when you were going to apply them. They approved massive architectural changes for board members homes that were out of step with the community. Then the shady (illegal?) dealings started with the reserve funds. Some rules are enforced with an iron fist, while others are totally ignored. At this point, 3 foot high weeds and junk cars up on blocks are looking pretty good! Want to get out, but handcuffed to the house by the current economic and interest rate situation. Moral of the story : No matter what an HOA "may" look like at the time you consider a home purchase, there is no guaranty that it will remain that way. Far better to be in control of your situation than suffer the whims of people you don't know and who don't necessarily share your values.
Prof Evan McKenzie said in his seminal book, Privatopia (1964), "CIDS [HOAs] currently engage in many activities that would be prohibited if they were viewed by the courts as the equivalent of local governments." They are not subject to constitutional protections that non-HOA owners retain!
