I have never lived in an HOA neighborhood because I just want more freedom than they afford. That means I could live next to a guy that parks a motorhome in his driveway, and it’s happened.
My final solution was to simply get a farm in central Kentucky. My driveway’s just over 1/4 mile. I really don’t care what my neighbor parks in his front yard. :)
Oh, I get you...but I am a bit fantatical about things of aesthetics. Stuff like that drives me crazy in my surroundings.
But like you, I have the best of both worlds. The house on the 8,000 square foot lot with the HOA and then a summer house on 25 acres where I have to drive to my mailbox.