What competitive Bay Area markets are you referring to? We've bought here a couple times, and although we looked at a few properties that were part of a 3-5 unit "HOA", most of the homes we saw (and both of the ones we bought) were not anywhere near HOAs. In fact, we currently live on a street that is not a public road, but which is apparently maintained by neighbors without resorting to an official HOA.
Where are the HOAs around here?