Re: "Lately, HOAs don't seem all that neighborly," by Steve Blow, Thursday Metro .

I spent my career in sales for a large corporation and, through the years, relocated seven times. I have had the difficult task of trying to sell a home where one neighbor had clunkers on blocks dripping oil onto his driveway and into a common street, and another where a couple of neighbors seldom mowed their lawn until they put their own houses up for sale. In later moves, location became a priority, and HOA covenants pertaining to maintaining the overall neighborhood common good were important decision elements in buying a home.

For most homeowners, our homes are major investments. For some they represent a lifetime of hard work. HOAs have done a lot more toward protecting overall individual homeowner rights than restricting the so-called rights of a few self-centered individuals with little concern for common good.

Tony Yunt, McKinney