HOA is just a name, they take many many forms. My grandparents neighborhood for example has an HOA that collects dues and the dues are used to pay to have the roads repaved or fixed when damaged, and that's it. No upkeep rules or anything like that, and there's only a handful of houses in their small neighborhood that look bad from the outside, but that's those people's business

I would never buy property subject to an HOA.