H0A's exist because your builder sold your soul out for a commission. They don't keep your community any more headache free than no HOA....with HOA neighbor speeding, tall grass, trash in yard, too many cars...call the HOA..they issue fine, so many days to fix and hearing...no HOA....call the city, they will issue fine, so many days to fix and court date. With an HOA they can tax you anything they want to + you pay property tax.  Without HOA you pay property tax. So why do we have HOA's? An HOA is basically a commission sales agreement. The salesman ( your builder) says hey I can bring you 300 customers or whatever the depvelopment size is for 20 years and the utility company says great! Go ahead and build the community, it's only going to cost you 400,000.00 or more depending on size of development for us to lay the lines and every month we're giving the community a discount on their cable. The salesman/builder says wow, I got no profit to do this here I'm going somewhere else (a cheaper state) The utility company overseer ( your state) says whoa wait a minute, were losing expansion (developments) your losing business (utility company) and your not making a profit (builder). So they negotiate. The utility company will lay lines (infrastructure) for free and give 10.00 or so  per household, The builder has profit now and with 300 homes for 20 years, you ( utility company) have captive customers (your community ) and the state has growth. Wait a minute says the utility company. This sounds great but we're putting 400,000.00 + out of pocket up front. What guarentee do we have. The state says we'll draw up a commission agreement (HOA) the builder will sign and have every homeowner agree to use only your service for 20 years before they buy the house (covenants). Wait a minute says the builder. How do I get people to do this when cheaper services will come along. They won't buy my houses. Just make it sound good says the state. Hmmm says the builder and makes it sound good (bylaws). He simply copied the city rules. Wonderful but who's going to want to enforce all these rules, police the community,  who's going to pay these people. You made it sound like they got their own police department. Not me says the builder, the utility company and the state.  Hmmm says the builder and puts dues into covenants but says wait minute. No one is going to buy a house they have to pay property tax plus monthly dues plus be a slave to a fixed utility company at higher prices. So they think on this and decide the utility companies per house commission will be a discount to each household, the builder writes it in the dues are collected by the community for "improvements" and the state gives the community HOA the power to do whatever they want. Sounds real good everyone agrees people will buy it and it hides the commission agreement. (Look in your covenants or it's hidden,) Wait a minute says the utility company, what if they disband it, we lose out. Don't worry says the state, we won't let that happen. They make only a few rules for HOA. That they are non profit and file once a year that they have a meeting so the state has a document to show they are active.  You now pay higher prices for utility services, pay property taxes + monthly taxes and live under the dictatorship of your board who can charge whatever they want, whenever they want, and dictate you have to paint yourself and your kids purple to come in and out if they want.,if they don't change their mind and decide kids aren't allowed. You'll never disband them but yes you can change to nicer dictators although studies have proven people undergo a personality change on an HOA board,, it's just human nature.  Congratulations your soul has been sold and you signed the deal.....so did I. :(

Write your state legislation and start filing better business bureau complaints. They won't help you now but later how many complaints there are is considered if in the 0 to 1% chance an HOA is looked at.