Ahhhh, so you don't own a house. Call me when you buy a house and get fined $75 for having weeds, even though there isn't a single weed in your yard. Or when they give you a ticket for parking on the street, which is explicitly illegal for them to do, but you have no legal recourse and they threaten to send you to collections over it. Call me when they are collecting ungodly amounts of money in dues and fines, but can't be bothered to empty the trashcans or paint over the Nazi graffiti in the common area. No matter how effective they might be in keeping cars off cinderblocks in your neighborhood or preventing the widow two doors down from painting her house black, they abuse the living shit out of their power, mismanage the fuck out of your money, and generally do more harm than good. I've been a homeowner for 6 years; HOA hate isn't a circlejerk, it's reality.