I live in an area with the covenants and associations, I hate it and don't abide by them. I have to say though, I have broken several of their stupid rules and nobody seems to bother me. Either they don't care, or tolerate me because there is a car with "pretty red and blue lights" in the neighborhood (everybody has to comment how they like the thing as a "deterent").
Travis, sent some interesting info for you in a PM. Give it some thought. I forgot to add in the PM, go to the PD and get the crime stats for the city. The city is usually sliced up in "areas" on a map. This should give you a good idea of what is going on, where, and how frequently. It will also tell you % of property crime vs. violent crime and everything in between. I would kinda avoid the area with alot of violent crime, but thats just me.