I personally think an HOA can either be nice or terrible and don't see any middle ground based on the experiences I've had in the past and friends have dealt with. My mom bought a house about 2 years ago and has been working on it, cleaning it up, etc. She knew there was an HOA when she bought the house but just tracked down the president and management company within the last 6 months. Prior to that, she had no interaction with anyone on the board or even knew who was on the board. She recently put a fence in and had her 1st interaction with the management company who couldn't tell you which was left or right based on what I was told. After materials were ordered, permits granted and post holes dug, she learned that her wooden fence had to be painted white. House is a tan/sandstone if you want to get technical and she hates the color white. President is about as reliable as a burnt out light bulb and dodges questions.

Looking over the papers from closing, she's missing a few which may or may not include anything pertaining to the HOA. During the meeting last week, we learned that a neighbor across the street has a large shed that wasn't approved and said neighbor refuses to remove it because it's her house, her property. HOA is fining her, threatening to put a lien on the house and ultimately foreclose on the house as they can exercise that right. They also threatened to do that to my mom's house and the neighbor's house if they refuse to paint the house white. In all of the papers I looked at, there wasn't a single paper that had a signature saying the homeowner agrees to the HOA rules/bylaws/regulations and agrees to any fines, etc. I also learned that the HOA can't legally foreclose on the house as they have no financial interest in said house.

With that being said, does this HOA have any leverage without signed agreements? I've dealt with a condo HOA and a neighborhood HOA, both of which had all homeowners sign papers upon moving in and both of which were on private property. Here, the village handles all snow removal as it's considered public property. The board members were absolutely awful and refused to compromise on the fence. Normally, I wouldn't make such a stink over something like this but it's not their house, not their mortgage and white looks absolutely awful next to a tan house. Side note, they also say that reptiles, birds, rodents and insects are prohibited. Funny, because they have no way of knowing who has what animals without entering someone's home.