This morning I heard the low battery churp from the alarm upstairs so I came home after work with fresh batteries. 

Just decide if you want to buy a house and if you do then get a pre approval.

6% means you will be almost fully rented (to me that's too low for a single unit.

It's nice to be able to get such thorough answers to my newb questions.I'm trying to think of the most effective ways of taking advantage of my equity and very low mortgage and interest rates of my current home to help get started investing.

“The book on investing in real estate with no (and low) money down” has already been so helpful and I haven’t even finished it!

Max your retirement accounts ( low cost index funds by Vanguard or similar) / buy more properties

Therefore, you should be able to get a conventional Cash-out Refinance at 5% - 6% APR/30 year amortization. 

seems high from JUST closing cost perspective on buyer or seller side (escrow+attorney+survey+prorated tax+ doc)... but again it could be very low depending on how the closing cost is being constructed (may be point or cost from both side etc) ..if you can give a breakout /pic of the closing statement then i can help 

I know my rents are on the low end from experience.

From reading The Book On Investing In Real Estate With No (And Low) Money Down will give you a lot of good information on how to get creative with funding.