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I'm in the process of buying a house (closed last week) and couldn't realistically have accessed the HOA's bylaws before placing an offer. At least speaking from my experience, you don't really know what you're signing up for when you buy a house in an HOA, you just know that you're signing up for something.

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They’re a standard step in disclosures and if you don’t like them you can walk away. If you didn’t choose to read them or waived the right to walk away, that’s your choice.

Any set of rules can seem reasonable on paper. It's the implementation of those rules that can vary greatly based on the HOA board. So that takes more investigation to figure out. And it is impossible to know who might be elected to the board next and who might become your neighbors next who may vote differently.

> Any set of rules can seem reasonable on paper

Maybe to some people, but when we were last buying a property, one of the places we put an offer on had a rule that you weren't allowed to hang clothes to dry on your balcony.

We did make an offer, but that rule made me a lot less interested in putting in a generous offer.

I had the bylaws in hand within 48 hours of putting in an offer. It was also one of the first things I had to sing post escrow and whatnot.

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