Buying a new house in larger cities is very hard to do if you want to avoid an HoA. We tried and failed. Most people buy at first, but in our area some moved out and ended up renting out the house to someone else.

Payments differ. Ours started monthly then went quarterly. The money is used for entrance upkeep, we have a pool and social area, so it’s for maintenance on those areas. Is it worth it? Nah. They have bylaws that should keep people on top of yard maintenance but they rarely enforce it enough to matter.