[Secret Agent Man]

My answer is this.

There is legitimate government, and then there are Homeowners Associations. And if you don’t understand what I mean, you haven’t dealt with a Homeowners Association.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

At least in California, HOA's are strictly regulated by the state. There are certain things they can and cannot do. They have multiple reporting requirements, and all of the major reports dealing with finances have to be made public.

It seems that what is happening in places like Florida is similar to what happened with the "deregulation" of the energy industry and the ENRON fiasco. The "deregulation" was only a partial one and it basically allowed specific corporations to gouge their customers. The government could sit back and say "Hey we're allowing the market to work its magic", but all that was happening was local monopolies were created and exploited by crony capitalists.

It seems that the relationship between HOA's and their members in Florida is similar to the relationship between ENRON and its customers. The government of Florida sits back and says "Hey we don't want to get in the middle between private citizens. We're going to let them settle their own affairs." However, once a person buys into a particular HOA he's sorta stuck. Yes, he can try and sell and find a better HOA, but there are major costs to selling a home and buying a new one. So by Florida standing back and being laissez-faire about HOAs, the HOA's with their larger bankrolls, and lawyers, and management companies can run roughshod over their tenants. Some free market.