For people that want the most control, buying a single-family home that is not part of an HOA is probably the best bet. You do not have the safety net that an HOA is intended to maintain – making sure the area retains certain standards, that home values remain as high as possible and that all owners comply with agreed upon rules.
In exchange for this though, you can do pretty much anything you want to with your house – as long as it falls within the rules set by the county you reside in. Build a tower, paint it all pink or fill the yard with gnomes – it’s your home, do what you like.
If you buy a home in a neighborhood with an HOA, you are going to be more limited in what you can do. You will have to observe the rules of the HOA, which will often control what you can do to your home’s exterior, how many cars you can park in your driveway and whether you can park on the street. However, you get the above-mentioned benefits that may keep your neighborhood within certain quality standards.
Those buying a condo will find themselves in much the same position as homeowners in an HOA – there will be rules and there will be membership dues. There will also be an organization to oversee it all. With a condo, you are sharing even more than a regular HOA. You share the roof with your neighbors and probably some other common areas – all of which you will also share financial responsibility for. Associations can be good or bad depending on who is running them.
Getting stuck in a place with a bunch of rules you are not comfortable with can make your life miserable. Make sure that prior to purchasing you find out if the association is difficult to deal with or not. A good place to start is asking the people that already live their to get their opinions. A local Realtor probably will know if there is a particular neighborhood that has an unruly homeowners association as well.