To be honest, you can do the best of both worlds.

1. Don't buy first, go rent a landed unit (at the location you wish to buy, 40km from your work place)

2. Rent for a year, pay rental only a fraction of 60% of the installment if you were to buy. Try stay there and commute daily to see if you like it.

3. Half way through if you don't like it, then you can start looking for a property to suit your needs. If you enjoy it, then you can start looking to buy subsale around the neighborhood.

4. Don't FOMO syndrome, there will always be property around to buy. Take your time, rent and stay at the landed unit you intended to buy for a year.