hi ang welcome to this great forum,i bought a property this year ,i paid a 10% deposit and then paid the full amount two weeks later as i wanted the use of the apartment straight away.i believe you can pay any balance on reciept of you deeds but than can take a year.
as regards estaste agents you can get enough advise on here ,nearly all of us have used good estate agents in calis.
i hope you are sucsessfull in your search for a place in the sun, mine is the best thing in my life,then the kids ,then the fishing,oh and then the mrs.
marcus