You're going to get a lot of anti-HOA sentiment here, almost by default, so weight the responses accordingly. I have a lot of experience with HOA's. Some are good, some suck horribly. Go to a board meeting before you buy if humanly possible. Get the CC&R's, financial statements and the meeting minutes for at least the last 12 months. Read them, preferably before the board meeting. Ask your questions at the meeting. Talk to anyone and everyone you see in the neighborhood. Sometimes realtors know the dirt, especially if they farm the area.
If you choose to buy, plan on attending every board meeting until they invite you to join the board, then do it. It's a small investment of time for potentially great return. In one HOA, i was able to avert a planned Special Assessment, just by spreading out the roof replacement project over three years instead of all at once. Oh my, that was a proud mustachian moment!
If you plan on buying where there's an HOA, not reading the reports or CC&R's, not getting involved, and worst of all, not being willing to follow the rules, and then complaining about the HOA, don't bother. You definitely get back what you put into it.
