My guess would be that without your equity buying your cash flow on this property it would have negative cash flow and not be a worthwhile income investment property.

That's pretty much breakeven in a Class B/C Milwaukee neighborhood, perhaps negative cashflow if you are in a sub-area of 53222 with crappy tenants.

The result was negative and included a lot of police activity suddenly, break-ins, and a lot of shady looking people hanging around who did not live there.

There is zero value (negative value to be honest) in leaving equity sitting dead in a property therefor what ever your decision the right choice is always to pull the money one way or another.

As of now the markets are going up and providing good price appreciation which can give you net returns that are higher than looking for cash flow but the problem is that when you add time into the equation the markets tend to fluctuate and may even turn negative.

I don't have that income.Last time I did a refi, the way they handled investment properties is to look only at the positive (or negative) cash flow the properties generated, and added only that amount to the income (or debt) side of the equation. 

Transferring/conveying from your name (presumably with a QCD) to an entity will show in the title chain and negate your asset protection anyway IMO. 

Job Growth Over the Last Year was all at a negative 0.2% (though it's possible this was just an average for the city as a whole). 4.

The only negative is you have to live in the house.

I'd love to keep it forever but then we're negative cash flow each month, plus the HELOC costs.