FWIW, I think these "associations" aimed at "preserving home values" are primarily made up of busy-bodies who want to control everyone and enforce their particular views. When you're paying a fee to keep the common grounds mowed and a pool in operation, that's not too bad, but when they take you to court and sue you because your trash can is not the "Chosen" community color, or issue citations because a kid left his bike on the lawn, they become petty, political organizations and should be disbanded. Some nieghborhoods actually force homowners to buy cable rather than satellite because they have rules preventing ANY dish, no matter the size (and I wonder whether the cable companies send a few bucks to the adminstrators of said organizations...) Some neighborhoods won't allow homeowners to have a garden in the backyard (assuming you can GET a backyard these days) because "unsightly" tomatoes may offend a neighbor. It can be a silly, ridiculous situation. Let's also consider that sometimes one is not aware that such an organization exists in the neighborhood when shopping for the home; these organizations have become less popular, and often a "sales" person or homeowner eager to get out will represent the organization as a "recreation support group" that exists to maintain the local swimming pool or basketball courts, thereby keeping the young ones "out of trouble"... Note that I'm not saying people who DESIRE to live under such restrictions (like religious communes, cultists, whatever) shouldn't be able to do so, I'm just saying that forcing a prospective buyer to join a club or be denied a home is Mafia-like and seems to spit squarely in the eye of Fair Housing laws. Anyway, for now it's Buyer Beware. Personally, I'd rather reside in the countryside.
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