I don't agree with rules like not being able to wash your car and stuff like that. But let's not pretend for one second that HOAs don't serve some purpose towards keeping disrespectful neighbors in line. Let's look at an example of such a thing.
Read up on Prince Mongo, who was somewhat of a local celebrity in Memphis and now Florida, due to his crazy shenanigans and offbeat personality. Since he's apparently independently wealthy through no work of his own, he's spent his life making other people miserable, simply because he can.
One of his biggest claims to infamy is to take whatever house he has, and fill the front yard with debris, obnoxious yard art, toilets hanging from trees, mannequin heads, coffins, and whatever other junk he can find. All entirely legal since he owns his properties, and solely for the purpose of pissing off people. However, by doing such things, he affects other neighbors by making it harder for them to sell their place, and ultimately reducing property value. Living in an HOA development prevents such crap from happening. I, for one, would rather know that some self-important douchenozzle can't come in and screw up the neighborhood for everyone else. Other people have other opinions, and feel it is their right to do whatever they want on their property...neighbors be damned. Legally, yes they can as long as there is no HOA. But morally...come on.
EDIT: Oh, and his newest thing, after having his property's decorations bulldozed, is that he is looking for some violent felons to move into that house. Just to prove that he will win.
Of course, you have the hard-core HOAs that don't let you wash your car, require window-shades to always be closed, only allow certain types of vehicles, don't allow even a POD on your move-in day, etc. Many HOAs go way too far, but many are simply there to keep the neighborhood nice. Before our HOA took a big stance on parking in our neighborhood, you almost couldn't drive down the street. People were parked EVERYWHERE except in their own driveway or garage. One unit wanted six parking passes for a single one-car-garage townhome. Really?? This was denied and for good reason.
Again...I am not saying all HOAs are good. Many are absolutely terrible and run by power-hungry elitists. Most are not that way, and serve to benefit the homeowners.
Prince Mongo is a brilliant man! I'd prob do the same thing to piss off my neighbors. LMFAO. Brilliant man!
