Here's some input based on my purchase of a Starduster earlier this year. It was located on the opposite side of the USA from me (Georgia), so a few logistics challenges were present.
1. I had a prebuy inspection by an A&P not local to the seller's airport. Located him throught the EAA database. I think this is the most critical part of the process - make sure he is very good, and in my case, very familiar with the specific type.
2. Based on the results of his inspection, I made an offer. Offer accepted. I opened an AOPA escrow account. I highly recommend this. It includes the title search and all paperwork processing.
3. I had an aviation attorney draft a sales agreement to include some specific hold harmless language and other stuff concerning the ferry flight. It turned out that the standard AOPA boiler plate contract would have been just as good, so I would not do this again.
4. If you need to have the airplane ferried and cannot ferry it yourself, have an agreement drawn up with your ferry pilot (if you need this, I would be happy to send you the language I have) and have him named on your insurance policy.
Hope that helps.
