[clock_tower]

Probably not, but housing and construction are regulated pretty severely in general, and seem to attract a pedantic, bureaucratic mindset that has little to do with being the land of freedom par excellance. Buying a house is a mess of paperwork dedicated to distorting market realities; owning one can be similar. The very idea of homeowners' associations, with various bad-tempered members who have nothing better to do than look for violations, is a frightening one...

[calbear81]

Homeowner's association exist to protect the common shared ownership of condominiums. If you don't want to deal with an HOA, buy a single family home instead or a large plot of land and then you're free to do whatever you'd like. There are definitely more nitpicky HOAs but generally you should do your research and find a community that shares your values when you invest in a multi-tenant property with shared common area ownership.

[762236]

Neighborhoods of single family homes can also establish HOAs, and they can become hotbeds of covert aggression. I believe that the parent comment was referring to this scenario since it is easy to spy on neighborly behavior.

[clock_tower]

This is the kind of thing I'm talking about -- how, in many housing-related areas, the US is profoundly un-cowboy-ish.