Banned is maybe too far, but why should we as a country allow people to have petty power over meaningless things their neighbors do? Could we ban HOAs from being included in house sales, and every time it's sold the new owners have to opt in?
For the most part, I'm wondering about this in the context of single family homes since for homes like condos, you could make the case that HOAs are useful for shared things like roofs and whatnot. Maybe limit mandatory HOA involvement to things like what's truly necessary and shared and not how tall your grass is?
Most HOAs are run by assholes.
But when run properly they keep neighborhoods clean and safe.
So when they work they do what your government should be doing? How is putting a shit covered bandage over a festering wound gonna help?
In other words, they're almost never run properly. You're literally saying it's great when it works but it rarely works.
HOAs need to die a fiery death, and there's a special place in hell for HOA managers.
That's been our experience. It wasn't the board (who were all neighbors and shared goals), but the management company that sucked.
If the HOA board is a problem, fix the board.
If you've ever lived in a place where disrespecting property is common, you've seen the need for an HOA.
I've seen - and heard about - 100 abusive HOA for every one disrespectful neighborhood.
I'm not sure your experience speaks for all homeowners. Further, your earlier quote
Indicates a pretty strong (and violent) bias that may exempt you from any objective planning going forward. Sorry bud.