Your best bet would be to ask around and see how the local Ducati service is. Here in Pittsburgh we only have one Ducati dealership, and after previous dealings with them the only way I would ever buy a Ducati is if I was up to the task of doing absolutely all maintenance to it myself. I'm not too crazy about having someone else do my work anyway, so it's unlikely I'd ever take my Buell or even any other Japanese bike anywhere to be worked on. I just know the chances of my letting someone else in this city touch a ducati are 0%
Obviously you're gonna get some biased opinions on this site and no one's gonna want to recommend the ducati over a buell. If you ask the question at a ducati site they're all gonna tell you buells suck. The general motorcycle public will probably tell you to get the ducati because most people love them and think Buells are slow, even though they've never seriously ridden one. It looks like the 749 only has 3 more hp and weighs 20lbs more, so the ride is probably gonna be pretty similar. You'll have to take the maintenance schedules and costs into account and then decide which you'd rather have. Speaking of maintenance, keep in mind the Buell is aircooled and will never need the valves checked(hydraulic lifters), so maintenance is super low and easy.
