50% rule as it applies to Condos?

[Cyrus Lendvay]

So, people often say that you can expect to pay 50% of the market rent toward upkeep on a place. I'm looking into a condo foreclosure and putting together some initial numbers and wondering how people would apply this rule to condos. Would you just include the HOA dues in that 50% since they take care of roofs, maintenance beyond the walls, etc?

For example: Condo market rent is $1000 and HOA dues are $190. I've found that condos require so much less maintenance than houses that it seems like a reasonable assumption. But, I wanted to see what your opinions are.

PS. Please don't turn this into an HOA bashing thread. I'm really not interested and I don't completely agree.