Comment by gambiting

What I find really interesting is that I keep hearing how Americans love their freedom and hate being told what to do and how to behave. Yet HOAs are such stereotypical American institution....I've lived in a few different countries and I can't think of anything as opressive to your homeowner rights as American HOAs. And people enter them willingly? Can someone explain why? Are the benefits of living in a managed neighbourhood really worth being told when to cut your grass and when you can take your bins out and what you can and cannot park in your own paid for driveway?