I agree with you, tarev. In most instances the HOAs are just trying to keep things looking "nice" (from their point of view) and hold up the property values. The uniformity gets a bit overwhelming at times though, IMHO.
We were up on top of our second story wood shake roof once in San Diego with hose in hand as Santa Ana wind-driven fire came over the hill in front of us. Yes, it's scary. Of course, now it's against the building codes there to use wood shakes on roofs or anywhere else. The rest of the house was stucco, but we did have big Eucalyptus trees right alongside our property. And you know how those can literally explode with fire. The winds turned at the last minute and the nearest home that burned was just over the ridge of the hill, down the canyon a little way. Fires are definitely scary. You just never know for sure which way they will go.
Thanks for commenting.
