“Simple, common sense regulations at the local level will keep most of the scumbags at bay.”
Sorry, it just doesn’t work that way. Local governments are notoriously lax on enforcement of their Municipal Codes. I know first hand, I’ve worked for local governments for 25 years. Scumbags find the loopholes and exploit them, usually keeping the most annoying violations happening at times and locations where the neighbors experience them but the local inspectors cannot observe them.
Just try getting a local government involved when a homeowner rents out a storage building or trailer in their back yard for undocumented immigrants to live in, and the immigrants go through their thousands of recyclable bottles and cans at 3 am 5 feet from your bedroom window.
My rule of thumb is if you have to live within 50 feet of your neighbor’s property line in a neighborhood with “cultural diversity” and/or a median income below $150,000/year, you better have an HOA to protect you from experiencing life in the Third World.
Myself, I’m looking to get out away from the suburbs, because life is too short to have to deal with idiot neighbors.