Its not always that simple. Finding newer construction by me that is not part of an HOA is borderline impossible, and anything older that might predate the HOA-ification of new developments are still priced close to the new contruction because the locations are usually much more desirable, even if theyre literally a full gut or straight up unfixable and have to be knocked down.

My wife and I spent well over a year looking for a house that was within the price range of a “normal” house for here because I told our agent right off the bat that I do not want to live in an HOA due to bad experiences with my last one, which was $1000 a year for literally nothing paid to a corporation based on the other side of the country that literally just manages HOAs.

The 1000 bucks a year for mowing the common areas that never got mowed, clearing the paths of snow that never got cleared, and taking care of the plantings at the signs at the periphery of our neighborhood that were dead withon a month of being planted due to lack of care. So yeah, done with HOAs lol…and I had a “cheap” one.