First take a look at the post Answers to "Where to Find CF+ Deals" by adam i think it is, he has posted some very good tips for finding property.

Good starting point grab an edition of Australian Property Magazine and in the back they list all the terminology that you need to know, i.e. cash flow positive, rental yield etc, good place to familiarize yourself with the terms used in property investing.

Look at your budget, how much can i afford to borrow but more importantly how much can i afford to repay.
Its a bit of hard question to nail down, but start off with the API magazine and keep immersing yourself in the subject and keep asking questions on the forum.

But ultimately it comes down to the numbers and what you can and cannot afford.

Hope this helps, keep me posted.

All the best

Ian

You mention you are a 17 year old student. Does this mean you are in high school or university? Do you have an income in the form of a part-time job or otherwise? The bank will probably insist on seeing an income stream before dishing out money. If you have no income stream, what is the plan if the tenant in your investment property fails to pay rent, or if there is an unexpected cost associated with the property? (Perhaps a plumbing problem…)

When do you plan to no longer be a student, and instead be in the workforce?

If you are unlikely to have an income stream for a while, an idea to add to the mix might be considering buying something "Off the plan", which means you are buying something that is still under construction, or proposed to be constructed. You pay a small amount, and the balance is not due until the property is completed in a year or two. It is important to be careful such properties are not overvalued, or in fact that there are too many of them, causing a situation where there are more properties (of its kind at least), than there are available tenants to live in them. I read recently that it can be possible to buy a deposit bond or bank deposit for say, $2500, which secures the property (you'd still want to ensure the bank was prepared to loan the rest tho!), but you don't have to find any other money until the property is completed. Hopefully by that stage it has gone up in value and you can refinance with the bank, thereby getting a higher loan-to-value ratio.

Another possibility is doing a joint venture – perhaps with someone that has access to money or has equity in a property. You could offer to do your bit with the cash you have, and also doing a lot of the legwork in finding a suitable property, and perhaps doing some minor renovation work, based on your skillset.