But it will hinder my income. 

"A man is known by the company he keeps", as all of my peers are stuck in the traditional "get a good 9-5 job" or are too interested in unproductive activities, that'll hinder success.

To be specific, my first rental was bought with original wood siding (terrible condition), and I had no money left after my down payment.I saw new siding as the biggest hinderance to higher rents, so i took that piece of junk mail advertising 18 months interest free financing that i had been throwing away since i turned 18, and applied for the card. 

The seller doesn't want to do that because she thinks that might hinder her chance of getting her money back.

I'm currently looking to learn all the laws and rules that would hinder or help me with house hacking.

Also the windows and roof ( if done as financed job) may show up on your personal credit which can hinder your refi. 

The rule you should not hinder from is that you want to shoot for at least $100 per door of real cash flow IF cash flow (income) is the strategy.Hope that helped.

I'm just as eager and ready to invest as the next guy, I'm a newbie who's done all of the readings, listenings, meetings, etc. etc. and now it's time to act. My biggest concern right now is my living situation. I live...

Plus in a refi you'll probably leave a significant amount of equity in the property which further hinders improving that return.You might be better off selling and doing a 1031 and using all $350K in cash to go buy several value add or cash flow opportunities using more leverage than you could with a refi.Or another option  that many of our skittish clients are using is to sell, 1031, and then use the $350K to purchase say a $200K property that will generate at least 7-8% net of all expenses  for cash and use the other $150K with maximum leverage to purchase an additional $500K of investment real estate which throws off a very superior return due to the leverage and sector. 

Now maybe you can keep us posted on how having your license has helped (or hindered) you as an investor.