Why do you have to join an HOA if you buy a home in an HOA neighborhood? Why isn’t there an opt out option?

Question

Edit just to clear up: I don’t have a positive or negative opinion on HOAs. I know next to nothing about them. They’ve just been mentioned to me a few times by family members recently and I asked about aspect I didn’t understand

In: Other

Answer 1

Because that defeats the purpose of the HOA.

*Ideally,* the HOA serves the community, and it requires all the members to participate for that to occur. It’s similar to why you can’t just opt out of paying taxes for the things you don’t use.