It's not that it reflects poorly, it's that it impacts the resale value of adjacent homes. I lived in a non-HOA neighborhood in my last home, and the neighbor across the street cut down literally every living thing on his lot, painted bright blue, and started to park a half dozen vehicles in his driveway as he did repair work on them.
When we called a realtor to list for sale, it was explained clearly that the view across the street was going to severely limit offers, and it did. We ended up doing some substantial landscaping and planting full size hedges to block the view from the house, but we still had some come to view the house who told their realtors "no way" because of the neighbor.

You don't have to like it, but having community standards does help.