I pay less than $250 a year in my hoathat is stupid high for an HOA, but they better have LOTS of stuff included to justify it. Snow removal would be one thing that will drive up the HOA fee. Did you ask them what all was included with that? I ruled out a couple when I was looking because they did not want to provide me with the HOA docs until after I bought the house .. **** that shit.
I bought my current house before the HOA was formed, and the first thing I did was put a cover over my patio so it would be grandfathered in.