I've had a desire to invest in buy and hold rentals properties since I was old enough to know what "rent" was. 

That's the weighted interest rate of all your debt on that property if you take out a $300k 2nd at 7%.

Time and energy are valuable commodities so if you don't have the desire to do hands-on rehab work or manage properties, vet tenants, handle maintenance issues etc, then self-managing or flipping may not be for you.

Weight out the options with money today versus money tomorrow.

A QCD is a light-weight way to change ownership without doing a full title investigation.  

Just because they will be putting tenants in the units does not mean that they will be the sort of good tenant that is desirable; chances are good that since they have no intention of ongoing management of the building, that they aren't going to go through the added effort of screening tenants to be certain they will be tenants with good character.  

Here is just one developer at the helm http://matthewsllc.com/ .The City of Mishawaka which in my opinion is joined to the City of South Bend at the hip has the second largest retail corridor in the entire State of Indiana and a highly desirable school district.

Or is there a deeper mindset that has no desire for the additional "baggage" of owning a home? 

I had the money and the desire to get into a business when I was 19 and I could have been in real estate investing when I was just out of High School.

They are worth their weight in gold.