Just HOA Smack

I get a lot of complaints from people who live in those tidy communities that have the home owners association breathing down their necks. They talk about neighbors spying on one another, eyeing each others lawns, backyards, carports or garages. Then the little weasel of a neighbor or neighbors head off to make their complaints to the home owners association overlord behind their back. Yes, the people telling me knew the rules that were imposed on the community just before moving in. But they thought they were helping themselves by preserving the values of their homes. The clean yards, the houses that were required to stay maintained and the feeling of safety attracted those home buyers. All that & more at the time seemed simple enough to follow, until the owner of a dog grooming company could not leave his van outside for an hour to get a quick bite to eat during lunch time. Until a person with a business logo on the back of their car window directing a potential customer to a .com was told to take it off or be fined if the car was going to be left out for more than 30 minutes on the carport. I have heard all kinds of stories with complaints ranging from a small USA flag hanging by the door bell, to the smell of perfume wafting over into the neighbor's home dining room through an open arcadia door while trying to enjoy the evening breeze.
In these communities, some people think they are going to receive fairness or some moderation of expectancy. They are almost always shocked to find out that isn't the case. If you try to fight the HOA, you will become frustrated if you do not conform to their standards and will likely lose. Most HOA's rules are black & white, there is no middle ground or any reasoning allowed. If you refuse to make the required adjustments such as pulling the few dandelion weeds you have growing in your front yard that your twisted irking neighbor complained about to the HOA, you will then be fined everyday that the weeds remain. When you do get to the weeds, you are still required to pay the fines. If you refuse to pay the fines, then more sanctions are applied. If you still refuse to pay, eventually you lose the right to live in that community & in the house you purchased. The HOA pretty much owns your house. Forget about truely owning a home under the authority of HOA's.

Are people going clueless about HOA's? It appears to me that certain freedoms are relinquished when you move into these communities. HOA's micromanage people, or shall I say these small communities. HOA communities are popping up all over the place. What is scarey to me is the control it has over those people living there. It seems to be working, and in some regards it empowers some individuals who are snitches or anal retarded. This kind of system placed in these communities appear neighborly at times, but yet it also can turn neighbors against each other. You either make the choice of conforming to the rules which are sometimes not even listed or pay the penalty of losing your home.
Lastly, before I retire to bed, I cannot help but to think that it effectively sorts the ones that are the followers & the ones that go against the grain of society/communities. I guess that is why I have heard the HOA's be compared to nazis. Come to think about it, I remember I use to watch this old rerun of a TV show made in the 1960's called .....oh geez now I can't remember? I think it was called The Villiage. Maybe somebody out there remembers? Well, the old rerun kinda reminds me of these HOA communities.