First-time buyers in Italy – how & when should we approach real estate agents?

Please be patient with us – we are completely new to the real estate game!
We’re a couple from Germany planning to move to Italy next year and buy a house. We’re about to spend two weeks driving around different areas and towns that look promising to us on paper - mainly in Abbruzzo But obviously, ticking all the boxes on an Excel sheet doesn’t mean we’ll actually like the place once we’re there.

What we’re unsure about is how to approach real estate agents at this stage. Is it too early to contact them when we don’t even know exactly what we’re looking for yet?
We definitely don’t want to waste anyone’s time, but at the same time, I feel like we need to see a few actual properties to understand the local market, what different budgets get you, and what kind of house we could realistically see ourselves living in.

I’m also slightly worried that Italian agents won’t take us seriously because we probably sound like the absolute cliché: Germans coming to Italy, looking at old houses and dreaming about moving there.

Thanks

For context in case it matters : our total budget is around €150,000 cash, roughly €100k for the property and €50k for renovations. We’re specifically interested in fixer-uppers rather than turnkey houses.
We’re in a somewhat privileged position renovation-wise: my father owns a construction company and my mother is a construction engineer, so we have a lot of professional support and would mainly be paying for materials rather than labor. That makes properties needing substantial work a realistic option for us.
So, for people who have bought property in Italy: Would you already contact agents and arrange a few viewings during this first scouting trip, or would you focus entirely on finding the right area first and only start looking at houses on a second trip?

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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1vksnfq/firsttime_buyers_in_italy_how_when_should_we/