Maybe I’m being naïve here, but how does someone sign a property deed without knowing that it’s part of an HOA?
There will probably be a blurb about being subject to an agreement recorded at book and page number whatever, and being subject to subsequent amendments.
That’s easy. They don’t read it before they sign it.
My last real estate closing took almost 3 hours because I read each and every document carefully before signing it (after having read and edited the draft documents).
Everyone at the table was irritated with me except my wife who already knew law at I was going to do.
“Can you speed it up, we only scheduled an hour for this closing and we have others scheduled today” was said several times. No one, real estate agent, title company rep, seller’s attorney, etc., expected me to actually READ the documents before signing them. I ended up finding and correcting two minor errors and one major error in the closing docs.
However, I got the distinct impression most people do not read all the paperwork before signing it.
I have had similar experiences with auto loans, construction contracts and even my kids’ school permission slips. A lot of people simply do it take the time to read things before they sign on the dotted line.