I see many women getting Ducati Monsters as their first bike after learning how to ride on a dirt bike or a smaller engine street bike for a few months. I have owned 3 Ducati sport bikes and currently own Aprilia sport bike and your Ducati maintenance is a little higher than your Jap bikes but if you can afford a Monster you can probably afford the maintenance.
My suggestion would be to call up a local Ducati shop and ask to speak to the service manager and tell him what yr Monster you are looking at buying and have him give you what to look out for and any problems that yr bike has. But if you do buy a used Monster take it to a Ducati mechanic for inspection before you buy it.
I have also seen many guys that buy a Monster want to sell it a yr so so later and get a real bike like a Ducati 848, 1098, 1198, etc and if you do this you probably will up sides down on the what you can sell the bike for vs what you paid for it. I only buy preowned bikes after a professional mechanic looks over the bike first and gives the thumbs up. Motorcycles are like new cars as soon as you drive it off the lot it massively depreciates so buy a few yr old bike saves you from getting hit with that initial depreciation.