Potentially selling and making a $100K to then buy a larger investment would be the plan but then again we could utilize a 1031 exchange if the timing is right later down the line. 

As a wholesaler, bird dog, property locator it is important to make sure the deals you market are solid home runs.

A friend of mine had an idea to buy "smaller cell sites" since the larger towers seem to be out of our price range as well as dominated by larger players.

You are eating in the gutters with cars/bikers wizing past you and every 15 min you get a lovely view of a dog pissing 15' from you. 

Do you have a dog?

All else being equal, a smaller unit will sell for a higher amount per sq fit than a larger unit.

@Reagan George bird dogging would just be finding motivated sellers.

I would feel very comfortable if I had $7,500 reserved owning a duplex incase I ran into a major maintenance issue or larger unit turn. 

Hopefully earning equity on the rehabs along the way, so I would be using a smaller and smaller portion of the heloc over time(or being able to go for larger duplex/multi fam properties)...Does this make sense?

It's much easier and looks less suspicious to pay 1 plumber a larger bill instead of 3 different plumbers.