So many times it's the only thing available. There's a John Oliver segment about it if you'd like to know more. We bought in an HOA. I didn't want to but I read the CC&Rs beforehand and they seemed pretty chill. The HOA itself has proved to be pretty chill as well and our fees pay to take care of a little park I don't really use but whatever? It's fine.

My HOA is pretty much: no car hoarding, don't let your house look like it is falling apart, don't let your grass get 6 ft tall in the front (back, we don't care). They are sticklers about not letting trash bins be visible from the road which is dumb and weird. It's like the only thing they care about.

Unfortunately many areas are fully saturated with hoa. If you want a commute you can stomach the HOA is just part of the acid.

That said, I live near Boulder CO and frankly wish I had an HOA now. My neighborhood is being overrun with people living in rvs . Total respect that people gotta live but my neighborhood is way different now with folks spreading junk all over. Chopping bikes on the sidewalk and leaving sharp metal, needles, hardware and trash everywhere.

Again, respect that people gotta live but now my neighborhood has dangers it didn't. Things that could literally hurt me or my dog.

An HOA would keep em out.

For us it was either live rual (which I would like) but live far away from everything, good schools and massive drive to go anywhere. Or Settle for HoA... We settle for HoA while kids are young.