FHB Investing In Brisbane / Gold Coast Corridor?

Hi all, my name is Belinda. As a new member, I think I should provide some background info before I plough into my questions. Forgive me if I prattle too much!

I'm getting married this September. We are both currently living with our respective parents. Our general plan is to buy a place to live in (house, townhouse, unit- whatever we can afford) before the FHO Grant 'bonus incentive' runs out in the middle of the year. My Fiance will move in first, then I will join him after the wedding.

My Fiance has just finished 5 years at university and now has a permanent job at a hospital in Brisbane as a clinical dietician. His first year graduate wages are about $55k with payrises over the next 5-6 years taking that figure to a potential $150k (the average is around $80k). 

I'm a qualified pharmacy assistant, but had to leave my job after 3 years due to health issues, which I'm still battling with, so I currently have no income coming in on my side.

Together, we have no debt at all besides my Fiance's HECS debt (from uni). It is a substantial debt, about $50k I believe, but interest free. We've both paid our cars off many years before the end of the loan's term and we've always paid bills early. We also together have savings of $10k so far.

Basically, I'm wanting general advice. There's a whole bunch of stuff we still need to learn, and I have a lot of research to do (in fact, advice on how to conduct valuable research would be great). It was my online researching that lead me to this site, and I thought that seeking some extra opinions couldn't hurt. I don't really know where to start……..

Anyone who's lived near Beenleigh will be seeing a lot of changes lately. The town centre is really improving with heaps of development. While house prices have dropped recently (and continue to steadily decline), they don't seem to have dropped as much as other suburbs. I would like to buy in Beenleigh, but I think we've been priced out by about $40k. So I started looking at the surrounding suburbs.

I'm attracted to the large, flat blocks of Bethania, but most of the suburb remains old and in need of refurbishment. There is no "worst house on the best street"…… they all seem pretty woeful with regards to street appeal and upkeep. However, if Beenleigh booms, I'm hoping any money invested in nearby suburbs like Bethania will be worth it. There are a lot of houses for sale in Bethania at the moment, and I'm interested in one house in particular. It's a 3 bedroom lowset brick house, completely unmodernized (early 80's decor reigns- the kitchen and bathroom need an overhaul), 720m2 perfectly flat block and no visible structural issues. The layout of the house is good with each room being a decent size. The price when we went to view the property was $295 000. In the space of a month, this price has dropped to $269 000. The owner is elderly and sick. He's moved out of the house to get care, and the house has been empty since. I'm inclined to wait to see what house prices do, but I must say I am rather excited about this particular house. Advice?

We want to move into a house (preferably a fixer-upper) and live there for a few years. We want to renovate (we have a friend in practically every trade who will do cheaper rates for us) and either sell for profit or rent (depending what the market is doing/what we can afford to do). In the years that we live there, we would like to buy a smaller investment property that we can rent out and keep as a rental property. I don't really understand the mechanics of such a plan however. Any tips?

We've heard a lot of noise about Eagleby being tipped as the next boom suburb. House prices are beginning to show that. It's on the river and a lot of new estates are being built. There's talk of a man-made canal being built for a luxury waterfront estate. People keep telling me I should be buying in there, but there's a high volume of housing commission in the suburb and a very high crime rate. It's not the kind of suburb I want to live in. I imagine that by the time we can afford an investment property, we'll be priced out of the suburb or the buyer's market will have ended. Should I suck it up, buy some security screens and live in Eagleby while prices are down?

At risk of going on forever, I basically want advice about buying in the Brisbane/Gold Coast Corridor. As a First Home Buyer, what moves should we be making to ensure that our first home is a wise investment choice?

Thanks in advance!