A ~$500K home in TX is a large “luxury” home with nearby amenities such as a community lake, tennis, HOA, etc.

Since when is an HOA an amenity instead of a ball-and-chain? I’d rather live in a town with a community park (possibly with pool and tennis courts) as is common on the East Coast. You end up with more rules on the township level and fewer on the private/HOA level, but at least towns are subject to Constitutional oversight.