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“those in the business of creating HOAs are in the business of maximizing values”

If the person developing an area does a good job of matching restrictions vs benefits, then you are right. If the person misjudges those, then you are wrong. The problem from a homeowner perspective is that you are interested in RESALE value. Based on my limited experience, people who run for the BOD in an HOA and who are active in governing an HOA are people who love rules and regulations, regardless of the desire of the community.

That is why we typically had a two year cycle: one BOD would run things quiet, and people would relax. The next BOD would want to ‘improve things’, and work on a bunch of new restrictions. The homeowners would hear new rules were being developed, would insist on seeing them, and would then organize a recall. The second BOD would resign to avoid recall, and a new BOD would form and try to run things smoothly.

Then the cycle would repeat.

In a townhouse situation, or in a place with small lots and lots of community property, I can see where some might think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

Personally, I will never live in an HOA again. I moved here before the HOA formed, and was drawn by CC&Rs that were VERY relaxed (no barb wire, no shooting on your 1 acre lot, etc). But the first BOD tried to impose very stringent rules, so much so that the developer tried to sue them!

At a minimum, I think every HOA should have CC&Rs that require a public vote of the homeowners to approve any new rules. That is the only way to ensure the new rules are acceptable to a majority without going thru multiple recall elections and the bitterness that follows.

When we voted on keeping or disbanding the HOA, only 15% voted to keep the HOA. I think that speaks volumes about how an HOA can run crazy. FWIW, 6 months prior to the vote to disband, I pointed out to the BOD that their desire to pass new rules had a good chance of killing the HOA forever. They didn’t believe me...

I lived in a condo that had 15 units. We had regular meetings where our “leaders” decided what “we” were going to do. Three months later, we’d have another meeting over the same issues. Nothing ever actually got done because the board members didn’t want to do it themselves, and in a small project there’s no one else.

When I moved out ten years ago, the board had just decided that a tree in front of the building needed to be removed. The guy who voluntarily maintained the landscaping, and who liked that tree, said he wasn’t going to volunteer to cut it down, put the appropriate tools in front of the Board President’s unit, and walked away. Ten years later, the tree was still there.

Since then, I’ve been happily residing in an apartment. Somebody else fixes stuff, and I just pay the rent on time. Six months ago though, we got a new manager who wants to “improve things”. Oh Lord, it’s the small people (small almost any way you define it) with big authority problem again.