High end (and high price) for first property?

[Ryan Moyer]

I am getting started in real estate investing.  Have been doing lots of reading, running lots of numbers, but this would be my first actual investment property.

There is an up and coming area not far from me that it growing quickly for vacation rentals, and I believe I have pin-pointed the place/style/etc that is doing really well there.  I've run the numbers and they look very strong.  The problem is getting that requires a large 6 bedroom, ~$700k house.

My wife and I make good money at our full-time jobs so we wouldn't have trouble qualifying (already talked to my home lender and they said no problem).  I am just concerned at such a high price on the first go-around without having any properties under my feet to have learned through experience on yet.  Is starting smaller and building up to higher end properties once you have that experience a must or, if I'm fairly confident in the numbers, is it reasonable to just dive in and do it?  I am worried this opportunity will not be there in a few years as I expect prices to rise rapidly in the area (and they have already begun to).

As an aside, would it be out of line to contact other vacation rental owners in the area through AirBNB/VRBO messages to ask them about their experience in the area, double check that their homes cash flow, etc?  I'd definitely like to get that input direct from them (using AirDNA currently, which is my biggest concern as I'm not sure how reliable their data really is) but I don't want to alienate myself in the community before I even get started there if it is frowned upon.