I am a lawyer, and I can tell you that if there is a HOA in a neighborhood and you don’t sign the paperwork, then you cannot buy the house in question. There is NO choice.
HOAs are quasi-governmental agencies, as the state/county/city (as the case may be) cede a certain amount of authority to them. Then (in most cases) the petty dictators who get on the HOA board generally make everyone else’s lives miserable, enabled by their friends, family and other assorted idiots in the neighborhood. It is generally very difficult (though not impossible) to get rid of these people once they are in place - kind of like Congressmen, and with similar results.
I don’t think we are arguing here. You said in your reply you can not buy the house if you don’t sign. Yep! If you are in an HOA though you did sign....a legally binding contract that possibly signs away your rights. That is my only point. If you claim this removes all new construction from your purchase choice I would also agree. I am an amateur radio operator. We tend to put up towers. hOAs do not like us. So my house CC&Rs are only 2 pages long and date back to 960. 8 made sure of that. I have been 8jnvolv3s peripherally in two separate legal fights on the antenna issue so had to get some education on the issues such as HOAs.