Need advice. am i putting the carriage in front of the horse

[Charles Wei]

Hello all.  I am new to bigger pockets.  A friend of mine started to talk to me about bigger pockets and got me excited about doing more real estate investing. 

Bottom line up front:

Is it good to get prequalified before I start even talking to an agent and looking at properties? 

Long story.

We own a home in florida that is currently being rented.  We have decided to sell because the value has appreciated and there are some capex items that are going to be needed to be replaced at some point in the near future that I don't know that I feel like paying for.  It's in an area where we have no connections so it makes sense in our opinion to find places where we have connections. 

After listening to a few podcasts, i wanted to start just asking questions.  Not really looking at anything other than just trying to figure out information.  I ended up being in contact with what I feel is a really good real estate agent (asked me my why, always tried to provide as much possibly without me asking, and provided information I asked for fairly quickly).   I wasn't planning on pulling the trigger really soon, it would be more so in the next few months after the house in florida gets sold.  The big question is, should i consider getting pre-qualified for a loan before I even start looking at properties?