Front end encompasses your total living housing expense, which is the total expenses of the residence in which you are residing in.

If you need more, wait another year.Lastly, while CDs have their place in an overall investment strategy, they should not encompass your entire investment universe.

I was feeling like I had to come up with one amazing, all-encompassing "why", but really there are so many different reasons I have to invest in real estate. 

but everyone who has raves about how all-encompassing it is.

Success may be defined in many ways, but an all encompassing comment like "college is worth every penney" is just plain incorrect.

Pushing this idea a bit further:Her unit encompasses all of the utilities (sewer access, heating, hot water tank, electrical panel) so if they break down, she's responsible?

The New England Area, as you can imagine by any area that encompasses 6 states, has a diverse range of markets, from A to B to C class and everywhere inbetween.It's tough to provide any numbers without further information.I would recommend you search for apartment deals on Loopnet, and start doing research in more defined markets/regions/metropolitan areas to compare the values, price per unit, expenses per unit, NOI, Cap rates, and any other helpful datum.Good luck!

That's not to say there is no value in starting with a template but when you start negotiating the finer points of a deal there's no way that a universal contract can be all encompassing for everyone.

Of course that statement isn't all encompassing, and i am assuming your market to be exactly like mine, which is impossible. 

When you really understand your market, economic forces, risks, risk mitigation, projections, financials and everything that encompasses your deals, it will be blatantly apparent to someone.