I have been on both sides of the HOA/non-HOA situation.
I lived in Reston, VA., strict HOA. White basketball backboard over your garage door, attached to the house? Not acceptable, sent notice it must be painted the same dark brown as your house. Nothing done in a month, the HOA sent a handyman out to do it and billed the homeowner.
The other side of the coin (no HOA), up the street from a different house, we had someone we called Mr. Gravel. Extended family (maybe more than one family?), had 5-6 cars. One day a dump truck of bluestone gravel gets dumped on the front lawn and spread out, viola, instant parking for everyone.
jfolsen