Why have an argument if she is happy with it?
I retired to a gated/HOA community. My wife and I read EVERY word of the HOA CCRs and Standards before we signed on the dotted line. And we are OK with it.
The problems here are with people that do not know the rules of the HOA or think that the rules don't apply to them.
Nonetheless; it works pretty well and our HOA fee is worth the value.
We had the argument because in the past she has complained often to me about the demands made that are hard for her to pay for or to do herself. She did know all the rules of the association before moving in but the house was the one she could afford in a neighborhood she wanted to live in. Money chose for her what she could buy and the homeowners association is now telling her how to live in that home. I pointed out during this conversation when talking about the guy across the street from me building something the city made him take down, (there are no home owners associations connected with our homes here on my block). In response to this she said ‘that’s why I like our homeowners association, they would’ve made him take it down’.
What the guy did was build a stone barbeque in his front yard, a very pretty one but the complaint from the city was it was too high. Too tall. His front yard is actually very pretty, with a huge brickpatio and lots of manicured plants, trees and seating.
I reminded her of how her homeowners association has been pretty tough on her, and often is pretty stringent with its regulations.
Where my brother lives the homeowners association has changed hands and the previous ones who ran it were already tyrannical. The new ones came up with more demands and some old coot goes around in a golf cart looking for stuff to report. He has nothing better to do I guess.
Why should a homeowner who is paying to own his property be subject to these petty tyrants. What is wrong with letting the homeowner have charge and freedom to care for something he is paying an enormous amount of money for?
Why not then have a car owners association, where people can report you for not washing your car? Or leaving a cup in it?
I pointed out that being a homeowner and paying thousands to the bank you would think