How do you buy a bond when its first issued? Primary Market?

I see that buying bonds on the secondary market right now are a bit expensive and will take a chunk out of your profits. Does anyone know how to buy bonds when they are first issued so that you can buy them at par value?

When a company wants to raise funds by borrowing money, they sell bonds. The bonds carry a certain interest rate and time period. There are many other parameters. In order to orchestrate this borrowing, the company hires an investment bank to be the underwriters. The underwriters would look to their clients and other investment bankers to find people, funds, university endowments, etc. who will buy the bonds, thereby loaning the company money. This is termed the "Primary Market", as you mentioned in the title. Once the bonds are all sold, there is a "secondary market" where you can buy whatever you can find. You will lose a bit on the bond's spread, that is, whatever broker bought the bond from its original owner will make a few bucks by selling it to you at a higher price. So your return will be a little less.

If you want to find bonds offered in a Primary Market, contact your broker's bond desk and see what they can do for you.