An old friend used to say he never understood paying someone that only existed to take away your home, but he specialized in having opinions and data on topics that were new to him. The amount of facts, figures, and statistic for every topic imaginable was truly dizzying.
He also said he never understood intentionally choosing a car built around a part specifically designed to go out, a manual transmission.
Jalopnik had some article about HOAs. I guess there have been different ones before. I think this was the one about the Festiva that wore upside-down Camaro pants. The HOA ordered him to get rid of it, driveways were only for drivable cars.
Well, it was driveable, and street legal!
https://jalopnik.com/awful-homeowner...gal-1818876834
An HOA discovered a resident had people sleeping in his garage, so they ordered everyone kept their garages open from 8am to 4pm:
https://jalopnik.com/dumbest-hoa-eve...eep-1821886917
This guy made sure he could park his pickup in his driveway. Seven years later, they told him he couldn't. He sued, they appealed, and after $187,000 which his neighbors were refunding [involuntarily], the state Supreme Court ruled in his favor:
https://jalopnik.com/5600495/man-spe...s-own-driveway
This deployed Army Captain lost his home because his depressed wife stopped opening mail, they owed $977.55 in dues, they illegally foreclosed, and sold the $315,000 home for $3,201. That buyer sold it for $135,000 and that buyer later stopped by asking for rent:
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/fris...of-Frisco-5503
This old lady says she never realized her house had an HOA. When she was out-of-town on one of her frequent business trips, they foreclosed on her house over $300 in fees. Like the Army Captain, the HOA never called or stopped by, despite being neighbors. She did not appeal because she was afraid of legal fees:
Elderly Woman Loses Home for Failing to Pay Homeowner Association Fees
According to this list:
https://www.movoto.com/blog/real-est...st-hoa-bylaws/
Some HOAs prohibit all signs, including for sale.
I am sure there are more, but that is enough for now. People kept commenting on Jalopnik that if you buy a house with an HOA, you deserve whatever you get, while many pointed out that you can actually join the board and try to fix things, and that many are decent, actually maintain home values, and otherwise leave you alone.
I have previously mentioned that the City of Tempe threatened to fine and\or jail my old landlord for not trimming his lawn.
Jail. For having tall grass. Not Jurassic Park tall grass, just tall.