doing research on an HOA can only go so far, sometimes they change.
We moved into an HOA community 2 years ago and I hate it. Same kind of stuff too. The one that gets me is that there's a rule that no moveable basketball hoops are to be left over night (no hoops attached to the house either). It's in the bi-laws, but it seems like every other house has some kind of hoops. Neighbors we talked to before we moved in said the HOA was really not intrusive and never bothered anyone. That, and seeing toys in yards (also a no no overnight) was actually a selling point to us because it meant the neighborhood had KIDS. One neighbor even had a pink flamingo and I was SO happy!! LOL. We moved from an aging community to this one. Now we have a new board, and I happened to go to the board meeting (don't get me started on why), and discovered they're going to start sending out mailings to everyone with hoops that they have to move them either into the garage or to the backyard overnight. I got a mailing this summer because I left my trash can on the curb overnight - the night my grandson was born, btw. One time and they send out annoying letters wagging their finger at me to put my trash can away. Ugh.
To me an HOA is just another layer of gov't-style intrusion.
For 20 yrs we lived without an HOA. Not one neighbor painted their house purple, had an abundance of gaudy lawn ornaments, or left decorations up all year. I'd take gaudy decorations over an oppressive HOA any day.
Does anyone know of anyone who successfully changed their HOA to get rid of some of their stupid micromanaging type by-laws?