I love living in an HOA community. They are all different, so be sure to read and understand the bylaws before deciding.
When I was shopping for a house, I told the realtor to get a map of the city and mark the streets that didn’t have an HOA; I had looked up the city code and found that it was sufficient to keep the neighborhoods looking nice.
I bought in a subdivision without an HOA, which was right next to a subdivision that did have an HOA.
Everyone keeps their yards neat and there aren’t any old cars etc laying around.
There was only one person that let the grass grow, and the neighbors helped out with the mowing. Eventually she moved away and the new owners keep the yard up.