When is a good time to find an agent?

[Robert Cornoyer]

I am starting to look at my local real estate market and I would like to buy my first investment property. However, I have some credit card debt that I need to pay off and then I will start saving for my down payment. At what point should I start looking for an agent? 

I am looking to house hack a small multi-family and I will probably need to save about $10-15k for down payment, repairs, reserves, etc. This probably will take about 6 months. Thanks for the input.