I disagree with that. An HOA controlled community often has the best of government. The HOA of our gated community meets annually to elect three officers. Those officers serve with no pay. The goal is to benefit the members, by helping the neighborhood be NICE. To benefit their property values etc. You can see those officers in the neighborhood. You can call them on the phone and voice concerns etc. And if they don't do a good job you can replace them, and you can run for that elected position yourself, without spending $$$$$$. But you'll have to be responsive to the neighborhood or they'll replace you.
Yes, it has restrictions about the color of your house, the size, etc.... all of that. And no one is required to buy a home in this neighborhood. If a person wants to paint their house aquablue and put a yellow roof on it... they are absolutely free to do that somewhere else.
People who live in gated neighborhoods under HOA's are often looking to assimilate with like minded people, in a similar socio-economic status. Certainly Obammy wants to bust this up. Honestly, I compare people who buy a real property that is subject to HOA restrictons, and then try to bust up the HOA because they don't like one or more of the restrictions..... well I view them about like I view Obammy.
Prediction:
This Mr. Obama stuff is going to backfire.
I don’t understand why so many people buy in HOA communities, having not read the rules. In Arizona, we’ve lost money on our house, after one slum house led to many more. Next, we’re going to try to move into an HOA, in the hopes of things being tidier and more orderly. Already, we’re meeting new homeowners there who neither know nor care about the HOA rules. Did they not all have to read what was attached to their deeds, and in many states, have to initial each rule?