People who do not want to live within the rules do not need to purchase homes in my neighborhood. They are free to go somewhere else. This is not an involuntary set of rules. You agree to abide by them as a part of the deed restriction when you purchase the property.
“cannot paint his house purple polka dots, park 6 rusting cars in his driveway on blocks, keep a flock of sheep in a pen, chop down all of his trees and operate a leather tannery”
And that is why they arent always a completely bad idea. They can really benefit you in property values and quality of a neighborhood. They sometimes do get extremely petty though.
If it’s such a great deal, why don’t you trust that your neighbor will join even if he isn’t forced to? I mean, he wouldn’t want to miss out on that great deal, would he?