You really, REALLY need to know both the HOA rules and tribal knowledge. Talk with others in the development. There have numerous epic battles between owners and their HOAs. I can remember one on the Audi forums where the HOA's towing company booted this guys Audi in front of his own house. Being a resourceful guy, he brought out his tire dollies (you put them under the tire to roll a car around the garage) and moved his Audi into his garage, boot and all. He then disassembled the suspension to remove the boot. He then put duct tape around the boot (like a hostage gagged) and sent a ransom note to the towing company. Towing company complained to the HOA, HOA complained to the town who said there's no town rules against parking on the street. In the end, I think he left it in a shopping cart somewhere and gave the towing company the address to get their boot.
As hilarious as this could be, do you really want to walk out to go someplace and have your vehicle booted? Look carefully at costs. I've heard many, many stories of people downsizing, just assuming they'd save money and when all the HOA fees, remodeling and such was done, they find that it's more expensive than the single family house they left. Personally, I'm going to stay where I am. I can park 6 junk cars in my yard if I want and nobody's going to complain (because they'd have to be trespassing to even be able to see them).