may well be worth renting a place for 6-12 months before you dive in, suss out the job, and get a feel for where would be a decent place to live.
Although renting may seem like dead money, and to a degree it is, but a year mortgage payments wont take naff all off the value of the house and will be less financially risky if the job doesnt pan out. Buying and doing up to build equity into the property is fine but you do need the cash to put down on the place and then the cash to do it up sitting aside which can be a big chunk.