If so, I'm leaning towards it, as that might be the most reasonable based on circumstances/timing. 

I’ll still be building equity with the help of a tenant, I’ll have my foot in the door and I’ll be saving 480/mo compared to my current circumstance. 

., That's a pretty healthy pile of evidence that your intent when you purchased it was to hold for productive use and that circumstances not of your choosing are causing you to sell when your preference would be to hold. 

But there could always be circumstances warranting a shorter or longer hold period.When you eventually sell that new rental converted primary there are some changes in how much tax free profit you will get. 

Would there be any legal circumstance where the renters would be able to keep their current rent if they do not have a long term lease agreement in place? 

So an organized packet kinda sorta might make a slight difference under perfect circumstances, and for big loans, for small stuff it's just turn and burn.

Because everyone's circumstances are completely different.

@Jonathan Bowen There are a lot of catch phrases created by the REI Guru's created to make something not as appealing to become mor alluring, the term House Hacking is one of those catch phrases, at the end of the day nobody wants to be an investor who landlords via a connected wall, it's out of circumstances presented at that time in their investment career.

Lot of sellers don't want to be the bad guys who kicked out paying tenants, just for the sake of the transaction. under no circumstances should inherited "not screened" tenants be put on long term leases. even given the opportunity to screen them, inherited tenants should not be put onto long term leases. and just to clarify, when I say long term, I am talking about 1 year term leases. these tenants should only be offered month to month.

Now the more experience you get and the more money you have to invest and gamble then speculating is not so risky but given your circumstances just be careful and really try to hone in on a value after repair.