Michael If you buy a house in a suburb these days, it is usually located in a small development with identical houses. It doesn't necessarily have to be a so-called Gated Community, which is a compound of houses separated from the outside world by a gate. Visitors can only enter if they register via the intercom and then someone from inside opens the heavy iron gate.
No, even completely ordinary housing developments are usually built by the same developer, and the houses all look like peas in a pod. People want it that way!
To make sure things stay that way after construction is finished, the so-called Homeowners Association (HOA) meets once a month and discusses the most ridiculous things. Participation in the meetings is voluntary, but the HOA's decisions are binding on all homeowners.
Friends of ours who bought a house in Silicon Valley told us that their HOA is run by an extraordinary busybody. He seriously proposed that all homeowners place a bulk order for identical flower planters so that the neighborhood's pleasing uniformity would be preserved—after all, where would things end up if everyone had flower pots in different colors!
And, of course, it was supposedly unacceptable for people to park their cars in front of their (own!) houses; those cars ought to disappear into the garage instead.
Even when you buy an apartment in a complex, it is subject to an HOA. In Belmont, a small town in Silicon Valley, an HOA even decided that no one is allowed to smoke in their apartment. Just imagine that, you buy an apartment for a lot of money and then you're not even allowed to fill it with cigarette smoke! As Californians, we do find smoke-free zones in restaurants and bars very pleasant, and we feel like we're in Absurdistan in places like Las Vegas, where smoking is still allowed everywhere. However, I believe that what you do in your own apartment should be up to you.