Getting analysis when starting out is pretty common, buying that first deal is a huge leap of faith. 

For further context, we are trying to have him be the name on the loan because he would be able to utilize his first time home buyer loan to take advantage of the lowered offered interest rate.

Easiest thing to do is to utilize your channel manager to create one (most have this feature) or maybe consider houfy.com or craftedstays.co, they are specific for creating direct websites.

And I know that a refinance would be the best, and most common, way to go. 

Specifically, I’d love to hear about best practices for managing shared spaces, screening tenants, and setting up house rules.Additionally, I plan to split the utilities among the tenants—any advice on how to handle this efficiently would be greatly appreciated!

Personal guarantees are EXTREMELY common.

Does this strategy utilizing HELOC really work on saving money and paying off mortgages much quicker?  

Tenant handles all utilities and lawncare.

Basically common contract or agreement law.

., longer-term, amortized, require escrow, commonly modified b/c of prepayments, etc.)?