When you are buying a house or a condo, you have to consider the guidelines of the community association before you buy the home.

We ran into this with the potential purchase of our very first home. It was a lovely home in a rural neighborhood that happened to have a community association. We were about to put an offer on the house and 40 acres. It was locate at the end of the neighborhood and hadn't been split up due to restraints on the number of water meters, or something like that.

We were going to put an offer on the property, when my father-in-law said we better read the guidelines of the community. He'd been in a community association area before.

Apparently, even though the area was zoned for horses, the guidelines would limit our total number of animals to three. That wasn't acceptable for us as we owned at least eight horses at the time. What would have happened if we never read those guidelines?

Homeowners associations, property owner associations, cooperatives, condo associations and common interest developments are all ways of saying that there is a governing body that has a fiduciary responsibility to maintain the neighborhood and the property value of the homes in the neighborhood.

Often, things get a little icky, for lack of a better word, when people buy homes without reviewing the governing documents -- called the convenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs).

There are good reasons behind the rules laid out in the CC&Rs. They are made to protect the neighborhood. If curb appeal, for instance, is diminished in a neighborhood, there is the potential for property values to start dropping. That hurts the entire neighborhood.

I will agree, some of the restrictions are a little strange for some. There can be regulations that say the grass must be shorter than so many inches. Some communities won't allow you to put sheds up. Some don't allow you to park cars on your grass. Some don't allow colored christmas light displays.

There are currently over 54 million Americans living within community assocations. Seventy-five percent of those Americans are happy living in their neighborhoods. Many like the appearance of the neighborhood, the safety and the neighbors.

What you are willing and not willing to do for a home in a certain area is up to you. But you definately should have some questions answered before you jump into a home that is guided by a community association:

How much are the assessment payments and when are they due?

How often are the assessments increased? Is there a limit to the increase?

What procedures are in place to collect delinquent assessments?

What is the annual budget of the CA?

Are there sufficient reserves for major, long-term maintenance and repairs?

Are there any restrictions on renting out property?

What are the rules for pets, flags, satellite dishes, clotheslines, patios, fencing, parking and home businesses?

Are board meetings open to all residents?