New Homeowners Generally Uninformed

Having served our community via the HOA for over 10 years, my experience is that generally speaking, the issue is not with the HOA. Rather, it is with homeowners who tour the community with their real estate agent, love how nice and clean the community is, see the sign at the entrance to the community that it is a "Covenant Protected Community," but never make the connection that the reason the neighborhood is so nice and clean is because the covenants are actually enforced. They find a house they want to live in, the relator (who just wants to make the sale) hands them the covenants and then quickly goes on to the next forms, they make an offer, buy the home, and never think again about the covenants. They start living in their home, never considering that there are covenants, and soon start to violate them. The HOA notifies them of their violations, and then the conflict begins. The homeowner just isn't aware that yes, the covenants apply to them too. No, they cannot do this or that because the covenants apply to them too. Of course they love the fact that Joe down the street cannot trash out their home, but hate the fact that their way of living is also controlled, and no, they cannot destroy value in their home either. It is generally a situation of lack of knowledge and understanding for the new homeowner. Most homeowners I have met would never think of volunteering for the Board of Directors, are not involved in the overall community, and somply want to be left alone. Here's the truth: If that is the way you want to live, then a covenant controlled community is not for you. Go live another non-HOA neighborhood; you deserve to live with others who, like you, don't want to live by covenants. However, just a heads up: when you're in your new, non-HOA neighborhood and that neighbor across the street trashes out their home so bad it's affecting the value of your home, then you will not have anyone to help correct the situation.