How do you do this?…

I am new at this.

I am very interested in the whole property investment idea, and have spent the last several months reading books and magazines on the topic. I am now at the point where I want to buy my first property, which will be in Queensland. I plan to live in it for the first year, in order to obtain the first home buyer’s grant, then probably rent it out.

I have been unable to get a clear picture of how to actually physically buy a property. Stuff like what actual bits of paper you sign, where and when it is appropriate to put the escape clauses etc (subject to finance satisfactory to the purchaser and so on), how long these clauses are valid for (until settlement?), what actual forms and contracts get signed, at what stage do you organise finance, etc. What is the actual sequence of events?

I want to have some idea what I’m doing before I start, so that (a) I won’t look like an idiot to the real estate agent, and (b) so the real estate agent will be less likely to try to take me for a ride.

I have read the Penguin Home Buyer’s Guide, which was helpful, but was unclear on many points. Similar books have not been of much more help. I feel that going to a real estate agent and asking them is not a good option, as I feel that there would be a clear conflict of interest in it for them, as they would always be wondering if they could sell me a property. I’ve previously had similar experiences with used car salesmen. I might get an ethical one, but I wouldn’t know until after I’d used any advice they had to give me.

Anyone here feel like helping out a novice and giving me a timeline of events on how to purchase a property?

Not dead yet.

Lo there do I see my father.
Lo there do I see my mother and my sisters and my brothers.
Lo there do I see the line of my people back to the beginning.
Lo they do call to me, they bid me take my place among them.
In the halls of Valhalla.
Where the brave may live forever.