Know someone who lived in a HOA for a couple years. His neighbors complained and he had to take the bird feeders down in his back yard.
I think some people think of HOAs as an example of why local democracy can't work. But I think it's more of an example of how democracy can't work in the context of a bunch of land owners who's asset values are in large part affected by the behaviors of everyone else. They incentives of that situation drive a person to madness.
The only people who have the assets, free time, money, care for land value, and connections to bother with running HOAs are going to be horrible people to start with. And isn't basically the only purpose of an HOA to drive up property value? I assume they'd be a lot better if they weren't inherently money-making, exclusive and hierarchical.
I had a similar thought, but instead of the committee excluding the participation of landlords who don't actually live in the neighborhood, it simply excludes their heads from their bodies regardless of where they live
Not their only purpose, HOA's also exist to enforce racial segregation and keep minorities out of white flight neighborhoods.
