While you can certainly use a HELOC long term, it really is best used as short term debt, like a hard money loan.

You don't want to end up telling your story on "The Big Short 2: ARMpocolypse".

On table 19 (page 38) I see that one of their biggest expense was "Premium and fees on redemption of MTN".

The larger benefits you get from investing in residential real estate are from the mortgage pay,down and the capital appreciation over a long period (as prices can always go down in the short term). 

As you can see there is no shortage of columbus agents that can help you. we posted two deals recently for two different duplexes we are trying to sell. one is in hungarian village and the other is in harrison west near the short north. check out those on the marketplace, you can find them by going to my profile and looking at recent posts. 

if you want a short term refi There are a few 30 day seasoning programs out there that are more expensiveFor 6 months to 1 year seasoning programs you will find non conventional rates that range between 6% to 8% ish range

In short, does it make sense to do LLC etc for first time home?

If I were the realtor, I would ask you if you can close on any of the properties you want to make offers on within a short time.

@Amanda Swetman If your friend doesn't want to do any work and wants their money back quickly, you can offer them to provide you with a short term fixed loan backed up by a property = aka collateral.

Then you can continue to the last laugh for years on him over your short term remodeling time.