The CC&Rs allowed for the formation of an HOA. That was known when I bought the property. I did NOT have a choice about joining once the HOA formed. The older section the same developer built, with the same CC&Rs, never formed an HOA.
There is property less than a quarter mile from me, where the homes were built several years ago. If the remaining homes in that section are ever built, the CC&Rs will also allow for the forming of an HOA, and the current owners will have no choice then, either. They could, however, ask the builder to release their lots from the section, if it is ever built. However, he doesn’t have to grant them their request.
Since no HOA existed, I could only base my impression on how the HOA would run on the CC&Rs. And the guy who wrote them agreed that the HOA that formed took off in a direction he never imagined nor wanted when he wrote the CC&Rs.
And again, we had no common areas. Since there were no common areas, dissolving was made much easier.
So, the HOA concerned itself solely with what people did with their own individually owned property? Was that intended just to enforce uniformity of appearance?
The unit I owned was one of four in one building. Without the HOA there would be no agreed upon way to replace the roof when the time came for replacement. Similarly, the pavement in the parking area was maintained by the HOA.