Hello and welcome to Malifaux.
You have sort of picked a good time and sort of picked a bad time to start. As you may have seen it is just having an edition change so we can't tell you the rules of various models, because they may be different in a couple of months when the edition is released. It might mean you are better to hold off buying modles until thye have the new stat cards.
On the good side it does brig in a lot more interest to the game, with people finding out how it has changed, what the new edition is liek and everyone is learnign from scratch together.
There are some profiles that are merging, so I think the models have an official "counts as" for the new edition, so from that aspect buying the figures is unlikely to leave you with things you can't use.
What you can do is look through the stories and the third editon figures and see what things appeal to you to get an idea of what you might want.
There are many different versions of Horror in the game, ranging from Jack the Ripper serial killer, Zombie hordes, Ghosts, forbidden monsters, altered animals (and humans), Frankienstien monsters, monsters from under the bed and so forth, so hopefully you can find the type of horror you want as a place to start.
My advice would be to look through the current range to start seeing what figures and stories appeal to you. You may do better to hold off buying any until the new edition is released, but in part that is because to get the new stat card with the models then (as long as the shop has updated its stock). I'm old fashioned and I much prefer using the cards, btu many people just use the App for the 3rd ed rules, so for them the new cards are of little use.
If you see soemthign you like, ask about it, and look at the new rules it has currently in the playtest to see if it looks interesting, and also if you can work out if the models you'd be getting in the box are going to be.