On the other hand, without an HOA your neighbor could start a car salvage yard, or any number of annoyances that greatly reduce your property value, just after you buy.
LOL in 90% of developments you can't even build a multi-apartment house, but you think it allows to build an industry there?
Also if you are concerned about property value, you are doing it wrong if you don't live the life a fixer-upper that moves to a new one once you repair the old.
Actually, in Houston, the largest US city without zoning, it is fully possible. There are all kinds of crazy combinations that you see; they look weird because they don't follow the typical rules.
https://www.houstontx.gov/planning/DevelopRegs/#develop
That's sort of the point. Most places have chosen to be regulated by an elected local government, which establishes basic zoning codes so that you can't build a scrapyard in the middle of a residential neighborhood.
But some areas have chosen to retain all property usage rights to themselves instead of trusting a government entity of any type. Except people in those areas still don't want to live next to a scrapyard. So developers have jumped in with large developments and HOAs to meet that need.
The difference is that the authority of the local government is limited by state law/constitutions. Private entities like HOAs are not (because private property). Ergo, HOA boards have much more ability to control even the smallest thing about the homes built in that neighborhood -- green yard instead of xeriscaping, no visible satellite dishes, "approved" architectural styles, minimum home sizes (one place we used to live required at least 3,000'!), pre-selected external color choices, only white window blinds/shades (the part visible from the street), holiday decorations, etc.
Imagine if your local zoning board tried to tell you you couldn't put your Christmas lights up (as my condo association does). The community would revolt over government overreach. But there's only minimal grumbling if an HOA does it. If that isn't cutting off your nose to spite your face, I don't know what is.
So, no, in my neighborhood, no one can build a salvage yard next to me,
and I can install whatever color drapes and whatever holiday decorations I choose. Because my area doesn't despise the very concept of some reasonable degree of government authority over private property -- and yet the fact that it
is the government, whose authority is limited by state law, and whose representatives face being voted out of office if they piss off their constituents, compels more restraint in the rules they adopt.