[SFH] [N/A] Tips for minimizing HOA hell
My partner works in city A. I used to be remote but am starting a job in city B about 1.5 hrs away. We are moving to try to keep both of our commutes under an hour.
If we could dictate the universe, we would move to a community without an HOA. Unfortunately, the area between city A and city B is almost entirely new developement (as in, the whole area was rural nothing 10 years ago, urban sprawl from city B encouraged developement in the burbs and every house for sale is directly being sold by the development company that built it), and so basically every house is part of an HOA.
We know that even a "good" HOA is 1 vote away from becoming a bad HOA. We know that a lot of the advice is either going to be "a 1.5 hour commute is better than an HOA" or "dont take a job in a new city if it requires you to live in an area with an HOA". For sake of having a discussion without disclosing why the current situation is unavoidable, please set those feelings aside.
If you absolutely, unavoidably, HAD to live in a community with an HOA, what steps could you take to minimize the hell? What signs would you look for in the community that the HOA isn't a faux fascist dictatorship?
Any tips are appreciated. Thanks!