What people don't want is the inconvenience of dealing with people who don't operate exactly like they do. As far as I'm concerned, this is a feature of living in community, not a bug.
I realize there are differences between living next to a drug dealer and living next to a person who likes to put 50 plastic pink flamingos in their front yard, but I suspect most of the "HOA hell" stories involve the latter circumstance rather than the former.
they are different "things" but still related. HOAs tell you what you can and cannot do. who created those rules? the people of the neighborhood at some point in time.
I want to paint my house green -- NOPE, neighbors #3, 5, 16, and 20 think green is stupid, and since nobody else had anything to say about it at the rules meeting, I can't do it.
when I moved to into my house we were thrown right between two feuding houses. and as it turns out, the disagreement in place affected us as well (about children playing outside). we ended up leading the fight at the HOA meetings while others, who had voiced their support to us directly and said they would show up, didn't show up. long story short, old lady got sent to the hospital over the stress of the situation, and we won. but there's a happy ending -- we became good friends with old lady, she has married and moved on :)
I realize there are differences between living next to a drug dealer and living next to a person who likes to put 50 plastic pink flamingos in their front yard, but I suspect most of the "HOA hell" stories involve the latter circumstance rather than the former.