I haven't seen anyone ask if you are planning on self managing.The investors that I work with now find the hybrid of the two a better place when they are just starting and growing. 

I want to have a game plan in action prior to reaching out to lenders. 

Wondering what your upcoming plans are.

We plan to renovate it ourselves and turn it into a 1200sq ft 2/1 to STR.

There's other items such as this where it may be helpful to talk to a CPA/EA for a little tax planning, especially since you'll likely get caught up in the passive activity loss limitations if taking bonus on a single rental property as I often see.It's also useful to mention that even if you do the cost seg study (I'm assuming you're doing one to be talking about this), you'll still benefit from accelerated depreciation in the form of shorter useful lives on the assets where you received bonus from.

That’s a helpful perspective as I plan out my projects.Thanks again for sharing your insights!

Am I ok with this plan to ride up the appreciation, mortgage pay down and rising rents?

Unless you revise your plan and ensure that your personal use is under 10% of the rental use.

I plan to do some of the work myself.

Private Money Lenders are going to be hard for a primary residence as it is an investment and typically they want to see a return prior to two years - also, the house would need to be purchased at a discount which would limit your options on a primary residence - now if you are looking for something that needs some work that you are planning on fixing up, it would be a little more feasible.