I also agree, the first house has nothing interesting about it at all, it's so plain and stark looking and just plain boring. I have never lived anywhere that has a HOA and never will. I used to live in a suburban village that had too many rules and regulations of it's own. One night I had the police wake me up at 4 in the morning to move a car I had parked horizontally on my drive and stayed there until I got up and moved it. My drive was small as was my garage and my van wouldn't fit in it and there was no place on the street within blocks to park my other car so I had it at the end of the drive. It was out of the street and not sitting in the grass but it wasn't legal there. I also had them wake me at 6 one Sunday morning to make sure I had a garage sale sign on the corner down by noon or else I would be fined. I live out in the country now with a couple of acres. Less than 1 of those is mowed, the rest has been left wild for the birds and animals. My grass sometimes gets high because I haven't had the time to mow. Some of my neighbors houses are very nice and some older and run down and there are some trailers out here too. I really don't care what anyone else does with their house or land, I don't feel it's any of my business. Some people are happy with everything being dictated to them and others aren't. It's nice to be able to have the choice.