What if the very first buyer chooses to sign a contract that stipulates that the sale of the house must include an HOA clause, which stipulates the next buyer must also include the clause upon the sale of the house, etc.? Basically, you can build it into the DNA of the contract so that it is always internal to the contract, known to all buyers/sellers, and not a top-down imposition.
That's how they are written. The owner cannot sell the house without the purchaser, including the lending bank, agreeing to the terms of the HOA.
Contrary to popular belief, though, HOAs can be dissolved, but that's up to the articles of incorporation of the association, which is a legal entity. Most of them require the homeowners within the association to agree to dissolution. So if you can convince the enough homeowners to dissolve the association, it can be done.
There are other ways an HOA can fail, and if it does then the contract ceases to remain in effect as well.
And this is a two way street. You pay for certain services, so if the HOA doesn't fulfill them, you can sue.
I don't really oppose HOAs. If you move into a "nice" neighborhood, you should understand there's a reason it's "nice" and that reason restricts you from doing certain things other people don't think is nice.
Buyer beware.
I think what /should/ happen is that realtors be required to provide all HOA documentation, contracts, costs, and contact info for all board members and leadership of the HOA and explicitly agree to the terms of the HOA prior to the offer being accepted.
If anyone, seller, realtor, HOA, is hiding the HOA and relying on obfuscation to trick people into buying into an HOA, then they are not using the HOA for the right reasons. They're only inviting people into the neighborhood that will eventually cause problems. People should want to live under an HOA if they're moving into one.
The current laws which allow realtors to gloss over it are bad, not HOAs.
How very anti-libertarian of you.
