Home owners associations cost extra money, however they save money during resale, by keeping the property value up. Home owners associations are composed of a group of neighbors to enforce policies and standards. Well known by their acronym HOA, some try to avoid HOA's where as some welcome HOA's.
Depending on the neighbors are you guarunteed the neighborhood will uphold to a certain standard of living.
Common reasons for HOA's are to enforce proper care of homes and community as a whole.
Home Owners associations ensure strange colors of paint do not appear on neighboring homes.
An Agreement to live a certain standard of life as a community is not always a bad thing.
Condos and Townhomes are usually forced to abide by an home owners assoc. Due to sharing of parking lots, walls, and landscape It's easy to see why condos and townhomes follow HOA's.
Can you imagine your portion of a condo well kept, but the neighbors porch or patio or roof is in bad condition.
However some HOAs are overpriced.