Best High-Yield Savings Rates for September 14, 2026: Up to 4.15%
High-yield savings account rates held steady to start Septmeber. With the Fed looking at rate increases this week, banks are using this opportunity to capture savers.
As of September 14, 2026, some online banks are still offering interest rates up to 4.15% APY. This is still much better than the average of 0.38% APY, according to the FDIC.
Banks and credit unions are constantly adjusting their annual percentage yields (APYs) as markets react to Federal Reserve policy and inflation data, so staying up to date can make a real difference. Here’s where the best savings rates stand today — and what you should know before moving your money.
💰 Today’s Best Savings Rates At a Glance
Here are the best bank and credit union savings accounts rates today:
|
Bank or Credit Union |
Top APY |
Balance Requirement |
|---|---|---|
|
NexBank |
4.15% |
$1 |
|
CIT Bank |
4.10% |
$2,500 |
|
Always.bank |
4.10% |
$0 |
|
Pibank |
4.10% |
$0
|
|
FVCbank |
4.01% |
$500 |
1. NexBank – NexBank is the largest privately held bank in Texas and currently is offering up to 4.15% APY in partnership with Raisin. They’re also offering up to a $1,000 bonus for new deposits.
2. CIT Bank – CIT Platinum Savings a two-tiered savings account.
Open an account with promo code CITBoost and you’ll earn 4.10% APY* on balances of $5,000 or more for the first six months* — that’s 10x the national average savings rate.
After 6 months, you’ll return to the regular rate of 3.75% APY* with a $5,000 minimum balance. Otherwise you’ll earn 0.25% APY. See website for full details. Read our full CIT Bank review.
3. Always.bank – Always.bank is the digital banking arm of 22nd State Banking Company, they’re currently offering a competitive 4.10% APY with no minimum balance requirements.
4. PiBank – PiBank is the online brand of Intercredit Bank, N.A and offers 4.10% APY with no monthly maintenance fees and no minimum balance requirements. However, lots of consumers complain about only being allow to withdraw via wire transfer. Read our full Pibank review.
5. FVCbank Advantage Direct Savings – FVCbank offers the Advantage Direct Savings Account and currently pays 4.01% APY with no monthly maintenance fees and just $500 minimum balance to open, and you must maintain a balance of $0.01 to earn stated APY. Read our full FVCbank review.
You can find a full list of the best high yield savings accounts here >>
How High Yield Savings Accounts Work And Why Rates Matter?
High-yield savings accounts function just like traditional savings accounts, but they pay a much higher annual percentage yield (APY) — often 10 to 15 times more. You can see how these rates compare to the savings rates at the 10 largest banks in America – and these rates put them to shame.
“The odds of a Fed rate hike are high, but banks are using this opportunity to capture savers in the current interest rate environment.” – Robert Farrington
The banks and credit unions on this list typically always have above-average rates, so even if the Federal Reserve lowers rates and these accounts lower their rates, you’ll still be head.
For example, a $10,000 balance earning 4.00% APY will generate about $400 in interest per year, compared with less than $20 at a big-bank rate of 0.20%. That gap makes it worth tracking rate changes regularly and switching institutions if your current bank stops staying competitive.
However, we expect more rates to dip below that 4.00% level in the coming weeks.
What To Know Before Opening An Account
Before opening a new account, review the key details that determine how much you’ll earn — and how easily you can access your funds.
- Watch For Intro Or Promo Rates: APYs can rise or fall at any time. But a strong introductory rate doesn’t guarantee long-term performance. None of the rates listed here are introductory, but some referral codes may only be temporary rates.
- Transfer Limits: Federal rules no longer cap savings withdrawals at six per month, but many banks still impose limits.
- Safety: Confirm that the institution is FDIC- or NCUA-insured, which protects up to $250,000 per depositor, per bank or credit union.
- Access: Many top-yield accounts are online-only. Make sure you can deposit via mobile app and link external accounts for easy transfers.
These details help you separate truly high-performing savings options from accounts that look appealing but may include hidden limitations or slower rate adjustments.
How We Track And Verify Rates
At The College Investor, our goal is to help you make smart, confident decisions about your money. To create this list, our editorial team reviews savings account rates daily across more than 50 banks, credit unions, and fintechs. We verify data using each institution’s official website, rate disclosures, and regulatory filings.
Only accounts available to U.S. consumers and insured by the FDIC or NCUA are included.
Our coverage is independent and editorially driven – we never rank accounts based on compensation. While we may earn a referral fee when you open an account through certain links, this does not influence our recommendations or reviews. Our opinions are our own, based on a consistent evaluation of usability, fees, yields, and customer experience.
FAQs
How often do savings account rates change?
Banks can adjust rates daily or weekly based on market conditions.
Are online banks safe?
Yes — as long as they’re FDIC-insured. Verify coverage on the FDIC’s BankFind site.
Is interest on savings accounts taxable?
Yes. You’ll receive a 1099-INT if you earn $10 or more in interest.
Should I move my money if rates drop?
It depends on the difference in APY and your transfer limits, and frequent rate chasing can reduce returns if transfers take time.
CIT Bank
For complete list of account details and fees, see our Personal Account disclosures.
* Platinum Savings is a tiered interest rate account. Interest is paid on the entire account balance based on the interest rate and APY in effect that day for the balance tier associated with the end-of-day account balance. APYs — Annual Percentage Yields are accurate as of July 1, 2026: 0.25% APY on balances of $0.01 to $4,999.99; 3.75% APY on balances of $5,000.00 or more. Interest Rates for the Platinum Savings account are variable and may change at any time without notice. The minimum to open a Platinum Savings account is $100.
* Platinum Savings APY Boost Promotion Terms and Conditions
This is a limited time offer available to New and Existing customers who meet the Platinum Savings APY Boost promotion criteria.
Accounts enrolled in the Platinum Savings Annual Percentage Yield (APY) Boost promotion will receive a 0.35% APY boost on the Platinum Savings current standard APY tiers for 6 months following the opening of a new account or when an existing Platinum Savings account is enrolled in the promotion. The Platinum Savings APY boost will be applied on account balances up to $9,999,999.00. Account balances above $9,999,999.00 will earn the standard APY. If the standard-published APY should change during the promotion period, the APY boost will move with it, offering an account APY above the standard rate.
The Promotion begins on February 13, 2026, and ends October 31, 2026. Customers enrolled in the promotion prior to the end date will receive the APY boost for the 6-month period outlined in the terms and conditions.
The promotion can end at any time without notice.
Editor: Colin Graves
Reviewed by: Richelle Hawley
The post Best High-Yield Savings Rates for September 14, 2026: Up to 4.15% appeared first on The College Investor.
Home sales in B.C. down again in August amid ‘gradual recovery,’ association says
British Columbia home sales fell again in August on a year-to-year basis, although the real estate industry says a “gradual recovery” is underway.
SpaceX Spent $15.8 Billion on AI in a Quarter. Here’s What Happens to the Stock if Orbital Data Centers Don’t Work.
Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX -2.02%) is best known for its Starlink satellite communications business and orbital launching services built around its reusable rocket technologies, but the company is actually positioning artificial intelligence (AI) as the most important pillar of its growth strategy. Within the category, SpaceX is looking to orbital data centers as a potentially revolutionary performance driver.
Orbital data centers could offer far more direct access to solar energy, alleviating power consumption concerns, and could also provide superior heat-diffusion solutions that eliminate the need for water-based cooling. On the other hand, it’s still unclear whether SpaceX’s major investments in the tech will pay off.
Image source: Getty Images.
SpaceX placed a $15.8 billion bet on AI last quarter
SpaceX is already significantly diversified, with operations across rocket-launching services, satellite-based internet and communications, and AI — but it’s clear that artificial intelligence is at the center of its growth ambitions. The second quarter saw SpaceX’s total capital expenditures (capex) come in at roughly $18.4 billion, with $15.8 billion in spending devoted to the company’s AI business. Meanwhile, capex for Starlink was $1.4 billion, and capex for its space and rockets business was $1.2 billion.
Orbital data centers have the potential to effectively address some of the biggest energy and resource challenges in scaling AI computing. Data centers positioned in orbit could also be ideal for meeting the computational needs of the space economy.
Space Exploration Technologies
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On the other hand, it would probably be a mistake to think that SpaceX needs to succeed with orbital data centers anytime soon to deliver wins for investors. Even a complete project failure wouldn’t necessarily be an insurmountable setback for the company.
While capital expenditures for the company’s AI unit totaled $15.8 billion last quarter, it’s unclear how much of that spending was devoted to developing orbital data centers. Notably, CEO Elon Musk was far more focused on terrestrial data centers during the company’s Q2 conference call — with the tech leader highlighting the advantages that the company’s expertise in rocketry and space technologies created for the engineering of data centers here on Earth.
Space-based data centers received relatively little focus in SpaceX’s Q2 report and conference call, which could suggest that they’re not expected to be a meaningful performance driver anytime soon. Given the heavy emphasis on terrestrial data centers in the call, there’s a good chance the company is focused on building out its AI infrastructure on Earth before turning to orbital data centers as a central component of its strategy.
Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
US NTSB says one-third of FAA answers to safety recommendations are ’unacceptable’
US NTSB says one-third of FAA answers to safety recommendations are ’unacceptable’
US Federal Reserve Expected To Raise Benchmark Rates This Week
Pretty much across the board, analysts and observers expect the US Federal Reserve to raise benchmark rates this week by at least 25 basis points.
Prediction markets have the probability at near certainty. Kalshi is currently at 86% for a 25 bps hike. Polymarket is at 84% for the same move.
As inflation remains too warm, even as employment has stayed steady, some observers see the forthcoming decision as a test of Fed credibility and a reminder the institution must stay above politics and maintain independence from the administration.
Roman Ziruk, Lead FX Strategist at Ebury, notes that the 10-year is now at 5%, the first time since 2023.
“The rise in the term premium – the extra compensation investors demand for holding long-dated debt – appears to be the main driver behind the spike in yields,” says Ziruk. “More recently, this has been partly a reflection of the increased geopolitical risk: the ongoing Iran war has fuelled a surge in oil prices, reviving inflation fears and adding a fresh layer of uncertainty as to the path for long-term central bank rates. This is clearly not just a US phenomenon, but a global one. Yields across the major economic areas have all risen in tandem with US Treasuries in recent weeks, pointing to a shared, geopolitically-driven pressure on bond markets that is not confined to the US alone.”
Ziruk also points to fiscal policy as sovereign debt rises not just in the US, now at $40 trillion, but in other nations.
Jesse Marre, Senior Portfolio Manager at Hilbert Group, anticipates a hike too, as the FOMC goes into the meeting.
“When something is that close to fully priced, you create more market disruption by going against the pricing than by going with it. A hike is not outrageous with headline CPI still at 3.4 percent, and it would answer the people who think Warsh was installed purely to cut rates.”
Marre says that “the risk is in the tails rather than the decision. If they hike and the talk is very hawkish, the market starts pricing a proper hiking cycle and the liquidity drain from that hits risk assets.”
The ongoing war in the Gulf does not help, as oil prices rise due to the conflict, nearly all other prices follow. With no end in sight to the fighting, the Trump administration finds itself in a bit of a quandary – especially with midterms just around the corner.
President Trump railed against Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s predecessor Jerome Powell, calling him names and threatening political prosecution for not doing his bidding and lowering rates. It seems Trump’s pick to lead the Fed will now raise interest rates, which raises the question of how the President will take a rate-hike decision. Will more political drama distract from more important issues? Will Trump deliver a new nickname for an emerging nemesis?
What 95 Out of 100 Physicians Miss About Oil and Gas
I recorded a conversation with Troy Eckard this week, and halfway through he stopped and turned the question around on me.
He said when he stands in front of a room of 100 physicians, maybe 5 will talk to him. The other 95 find somewhere else to be. Four decades in oil and gas, and it still baffles him. He wanted to know why.
I told him what I actually think, which is that it’s an information problem.
There isn’t much reliable information out there about this space. Most of what you can find comes from people who have something to sell. So it feels like a black box, and when something feels like a black box, people back away from it. That’s not irrational. That’s what anyone does with uncertainty.
Physicians especially. You were trained to do the full workup before you act, and to want the evidence in front of you. When the information is thin, not acting is the correct call.
I’ll say it took me a long time here too. Getting comfortable with this space meant a lot of reading and a lot of conversations with a lot of different people, over a long stretch. It didn’t happen quickly for me, and I don’t think it should happen quickly for anyone.
But there’s a piece of this that has nothing to do with whether you ever buy an oil and gas interest. I think most physicians are missing it, because it isn’t about energy as an investment. It’s about energy already moving your portfolio, whether you own any or not.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Any investment involves risk, and you should consult your financial advisor, attorney, or CPA before making any investment decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The author and associated entities disclaim any liability for loss incurred as a result of the use of this material or its content.
Start with what’s actually happening
Oil is up about fifty percent from a year ago. Diesel went from under four bucks a gallon to almost six.
That works into the price of everything, because diesel is how things get built and moved. Which keeps inflation warm. Which is why the Fed stopped cutting instead of continuing to cut. Three people at the July meeting actually wanted to raise.
So the ten-year Treasury is sitting just under five percent, the highest it’s been in about three years.
And the ten-year is what prices your real estate.
The number that got my attention
CBRE asked the market, in their mid-year survey, what it would take for deals to start moving again.
The answer was a ten-year Treasury around 3.75%.
We’re at 4.83%.
That gap is a lot of what you’re feeling right now. Deals sitting still. Refinances that hurt. Distributions getting trimmed. Operators pushing a sale out another year, and then another one after that.
And a good part of what’s keeping that number high is the price of oil. Not your operator’s business plan. Not your submarket. A commodity most physician real estate investors have no position in and no opinion about.
I invest heavily in real estate so I’m including myself in that.
That’s really the thing I’d want you to take from this. Energy isn’t a separate box off to the side of your portfolio. If you hold LP positions in multifamily or commercial, it’s connected to what you already own. You have that exposure either way. The only question is whether you have anything sitting on the other side of it.
Where I’d push back on my own argument
The obvious next move is to call energy a hedge against real estate. I won’t, because it isn’t one.
A hedge reliably moves opposite the thing you’re worried about. Energy doesn’t.
It only helps against one kind of trouble. When inflation pushes rates up and squeezes real estate, energy does counterbalance that. But in a recession where demand falls off, the two drop together. That’s 2008. That’s 2020, when oil traded below zero.
The size doesn’t work either. Troy described a portfolio that might be ten percent real estate and three percent energy. Three doesn’t cancel ten. It softens it.
This year makes the point on its own. Oil spiked in the spring, then gave almost all of it back by late June once tankers were moving through Hormuz again. There was a single session in there where it dropped more than fifteen percent, the worst day since April 2020. Anybody calling that a reliable counterweight is overselling it.
Here’s what I think is actually true, and it’s smaller. Energy doesn’t move with housing or with the stock market. It moves with something else entirely. And right now that something else happens to be the thing pressing on real estate values.
I’ll say where I sit, since it’s fair to ask. I’ve invested in this space for a while now. What I’ve appreciated isn’t a big number in any single year. It’s that it doesn’t move with everything else I own, and it’s given me something that keeps working when real estate is having a hard stretch. That’s it. That’s the whole case as I’d make it.
Troy would make a more specific one. His view is that capital left this sector years ago and moved into AI, and that this changed what these assets cost relative to the commodity itself. He’d also tell you where he thinks costs are heading, and he’s candid about the parts that could go against him. I’d rather you hear him make that case in full than take my compressed version of it.
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If you do look, here’s what to ask
This is the part I’d want you to keep regardless of what you decide.
The reason 95 people leave the room isn’t ignorance. It’s that this field has a lot of bad actors and physicians can tell they don’t have the tools to sort them out. The tax write-off is the bait. Most of them don’t know how to do the proper due diligence.
So here are four things you should ask for:
Ask for the AFE. Stands for Authorization for Expenditure. It’s the itemized cost breakdown for drilling a well. You wouldn’t let a consultant take your patient to the OR on “trust me,” you’d want to know what they’re seeing and why. Same idea. Troy told me about an investor who asked for one recently and got told that in 15 years no wealthy investor had ever asked. That’s the answer right there. You’re not trying to argue over somebody’s margin. You’re checking you’re not paying triple.
Ask for the track record in writing. Money in, money out, how long it took. Not a case study. Prior deals, real numbers.
Ask who’s actually on staff. Geologists, engineers, in-house accounting. A lot of firms selling these deals are capital-raising shops with nothing behind the curtain. Ask, then ask to talk to those people.
Ask how the person you’re talking to gets paid. Salary or commission. Fair question in any private deal.
If someone gets defensive at any of those, you learned what you needed to know and it cost you nothing.
Back to Troy’s question
I don’t think the 95 who walk out are wrong to be skeptical. I think they’re skipping a step.
You don’t have to buy anything to be better off here. What’s worth doing is knowing what you’re already exposed to, and being able to tell a real operator from a good deck.
If the answer after that is still no, that’s a real no. It beats the one most people have right now.
Troy’s team publishes their education library with no gate on it. No net worth question, no call, no follow-up sequence. If you want to understand how this asset class works, that’s a reasonable place to start reading. EckardEnterprises.com.
The full conversation is Episode 333 of the Passive Income MD podcast.
Disclosure: Eckard Enterprises is a Passive Income MD partner and sponsored this article. Peter Kim is personally invested in oil and gas assets. This article is educational and is not an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security, and it does not reference any specific investment offering. Views attributed to Troy Eckard are his own. Oil and gas investments carry risk of loss, including loss of principal. Consult your own tax and investment advisors.
Figures are as of September 9, 2026. WTI around $97/bbl; on-highway diesel $5.97/gal; 10-year Treasury 4.83%. Sources: EIA, BLS, Federal Reserve (July 2026 FOMC), CBRE US Cap Rate Survey H1 2026.
Were these helpful in any way? Make sure to sign up for the newsletter and join the Passive Income Docs Facebook Group for more physician-tailored content.
Peter Kim, MD is the founder of Passive Income MD, the creator of Passive Real Estate Academy, and offers weekly education through his Monday podcast, the Passive Income MD Podcast. Join our community at the Passive Income Doc Facebook Group.
Disclaimer: I am not a CPA, attorney, or financial advisor. The information in this post is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as tax, legal, or financial advice. Please consult a qualified professional about your specific situation before making any decisions.
Further Reading
2X MSCI World im Portfolio: Wann splitten? 📈
2X MSCI World im Portfolio: Wann splitten? 📈
📝 Eine 25 Jährige Ingenieurin aus dem Saarland bespart 2 MSCI World ETFs, um einen Teil der Anteile später für einen Hauskauf leichter abstoßen zu können. Aber ab welchem Geldbetrag macht es eigentlich Sinn, sein ETF Investment auf 2 ETFs aufzuteilen? Dieser Frage gehen wir im heutigen Video nach.
#️⃣ #etf #etfs #msciworld #sparen #depotcheck #copilot #finanzflusscopilot
🎯 2015 haben wir es uns zur Mission gemacht, Menschen zu ermutigen, ihre Finanzen in die eigenen Hände zu nehmen. Angefangen als YouTube-Kanal mit Erklärvideos, haben wir uns innerhalb weniger Jahre zur größten Community für finanzielle Selbstentscheider im deutschsprachigen Raum entwickelt.
🔔 Möchtest du deine persönlichen Finanzen in den Griff bekommen? Wir wollen dir ermöglichen, Verantwortung zu übernehmen und eigene, fundierte, finanzielle Entscheidungen zu treffen. Folge uns, um keine Videos mehr zu verpassen!
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source
I Started Buying Rentals at 46. By 50, They’ll Replace My Salary.
Kent Long wanted passive income. The problem? All those gurus and guides online were only selling a fantasy. The one thing that seemed to actually generate income: real estate. When a property that could easily be split into two units came on the market, Kent jumped at the chance. Little did he know this $14,000 down payment would become an entire real estate portfolio that would help him retire early from his job.
At 46, Kent bought his first rental property (just two years ago, in 2024). The purchase price? A mere $70,000. With a small renovation, this property began bringing in $3,000/month in rent and some serious cash flow. Now that there was home equity to pull from, it was time to repeat this system.
Kent has now done this same type of deal four times, going from zero units to 10 units in just two years. He’s even gotten his young son involved, helping his 20-year-old profit nearly $50,000 from a similar deal! Kent’s close to replacing his income and fully stepping away from his 9-5, reaching early retirement, and dedicating all his time to real estate. He started in 2024 when most people thought real estate investing was past its prime—according to Kent, we’re still not even close!
Henry:
Kent Long bought his first rental property at 46 years old, just two years ago in 2024. By the time he’s 50, he’ll have a real estate portfolio that will retire him early. He did all this while working a nine to five, on the road three to four days per week, and without a ton of his own savings. Kent began looking for passive income streams, but all the internet gurus and guides turned out to be selling a fantasy. After hitting a breaking point, Kent saw a house on the market with enough square footage to convert it into two units. This would turn into the beginning of an investing career Kent never imagined. With just $14,000 down, Kent turned one down payment into four properties, making him $5,500 a month in cash flow. And he did it all in just two years. Now he’s close to fully replacing his salary with rentals, allowing him to retire from his job at age 50, 15 years before traditional retirement age.
He did it all starting in 2024. So if you think you are late to real estate, this is your sign to get in the game. What’s going on everybody? I am Henry Washington, co-host of the BiggerPockets Podcast, and today we’re bringing you an investor story with Kent Long from Altoona, Pennsylvania. Let’s bring him on. Kent Long, welcome to the BiggerPockets Podcast.
Kent:
Henry, I’m honored to be here. Honestly, BiggerPockets has been a huge part of my real estate journey.
Henry:
Well, why don’t you start there? Tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into real estate in the first place.
Kent:
Starting off, I was always looking for passive income. So unfortunately, just life costs so much money. So to live normally, you have to have extra income coming in. So my initial thought process was I read Tim Ferriss, four-hour work week, and I started an Amazon business. So I made two products on Amazon and I had two different manufacturers in China that would send stuff directly to Amazon. So ideally it makes sense, then that’s totally passive. You watch all the YouTubers and they say how easy it is and you can make extra thousand bucks per unit that you’re selling. The kicker is it costs so much money to advertise on Amazon that you don’t make any money. So then after that, I stumbled on BiggerPockets and started listening to just real estate. I’ve always been like Mr. Fix It at home and can fix things. And my dad’s a union carpenter, so I’ve always had a background of building and fixing things.
And then about two years ago when I was going through a bad divorce, I had an option and I could either rent because my wife was keeping the house, or I could look at either flipping a house, live in flip, or buy a property that I could fix up and then pull some equity out. So that’s my initial dive into it.
Henry:
About when did you start researching real estate? And then about when was it when you bought your first real estate deal?
Kent:
My job, my nine to five, I travel a lot. So I’m in the car between two and four hours, three to four days a week. So it would just be podcast after podcast, whether it was entrepreneurship, and then eventually about three years ago to two and a half years ago, really just diving into BiggerPockets and just constantly listening to it in the car. So in July of 2024, I was looking at my first property. My real estate agent at the time had a property that used to be a duplex and it was converted to a single family, but all I literally had to do was put a door on it. So you walk in, the first floor would’ve been one apartment and then there was another door that went upstairs for the second apartment. So literally just putting a door on it would make it a duplex.
Henry:
What city was this?
Kent:
In Altoona, PA.
Henry:
Altoona, Pennsylvania. And how much did you pay for this large single family home that was a duplex, turned into a single that you wanted to turn back into a duplex?
Kent:
But I actually turned it into a try.
Henry:
We’ll
Kent:
Get to that. So purchase price is $70,000.
Henry:
70 grand? Was it just sticks? Was it livable?
Kent:
All new LVP in the first and second floor and the third floor, all LVP already done. And everything was freshly painted.
Henry:
Is this just prices in this market? How’d you find this deal? Was it on the market? Was it off-market deal?
Kent:
It was on the market for a while. So that house fell through a couple times. They sold it twice maybe, and the loan didn’t go through right or something happened. So then the seller just needed it kind of off his plate. But at most, it was on the market for 80 or 90.
Henry:
Wow. I just didn’t realize the price points were that low.
Kent:
Well, the price points will get better and you’re going to be. So that’s in the high end of what I paid.
Henry:
Okay. All right. All right. So you paid 70. It was a single that used to be a duplex. You ended up converting it back to a multifamily. How much did it cost you to renovate this property to get it turned into, I guess you said, a triplex now?
Kent:
$10,000.
Henry:
Okay. Did it cost 10 grand because you have the skills to do all the work yourself or did it cost 10 grand just because it was in pristine condition and you didn’t have to do much?
Kent:
So I didn’t have to do a lot, but I do all of the work. So the idea is I have a background of redoing kitchens and redoing bathrooms and I can do flooring and painting and everything else, but that’s all that I had to put into it to convert it into a try. I had a little bit of cabinets I had to add into the kitchen, and then there were some cabinets up on that second floor that I used in the third unit, which was in the back.
Henry:
Can you estimate what you think the renovation would’ve cost had you had to hire a contractor?
Kent:
I mean, I always double it. So it’s 20 to 30, 20 to 30 grand. That’s
Henry:
Fair. That’s fair. Okay, cool. That paints a good picture of about the level of work that needed to be involved with this property. And so then you converted it to a triplex. I know I’m probably getting ahead of myself, but I’m so curious because of that price point. What are the rents for the individual units?
Kent:
So they basically added a business off the back side of this house. That unit, I furnished it, and then there’s a makeshift kitchen back there too, and I get 850 for that little unit, and it’s as big as a whatever, hotel room.
Henry:
Okay. So you’re cash flowing off one unit. Allright, what else you got?
Kent:
Right. So then on the first floor, one bedroom, I get right around 900 a month for that.
Henry:
And the third unit?
Kent:
1250.
Henry:
What?
Kent:
Because it’s three bedroom, and this is off of a $70,000 home. Holy
Henry:
Crap. $70,000 single family, $10,000 renovation, which includes sweat equity, which is fine. And you’re able to bring in 850, 900, and 1250 for a total of $3,000 a month in rent on an $80,000 all-in purchase? Right. That’s a good stinking deal. Wow. Congratulations on that. That’s impressive.
Kent:
Thank you. Thank you. We always want to hit that home run in the first one.
Henry:
All right. So how did you structure the financing for this? Did you pay out of your pocket? Is it a conventional loan?
Kent:
It was a 30-year conventional loan.
Henry:
So you put down 20%, 25%? Yeah,
Kent:
14 to $20,000.
Henry:
What’s your debt service? So what are you paying the mortgage on that property? It’s
Kent:
So
Henry:
Low, he doesn’t even know, guys. He was like, “I don’t know. 50 bucks eyes.”
Kent:
All of my loans are between four and $600.
Henry:
$600 a month mortgage, bringing in $3,000 a month. Even you put $14,000 down after a few months, you got your money back.
Kent:
Oh, yeah.
Henry:
What a deal. What a deal. Now, I’m very curious now as to what the numbers look like on this second deal, and we’re going to dive into that after this quick break. All right, we are back on the BiggerPockets podcast. I am speaking with investor Kent Long, who has just shared his very first real estate deal with us, and it was a banger. So Kent, tell me about this next one.
Kent:
So first property, fix it up, basically added two units because it was a single family, turned it into a try. Because I turned it in a try, I got to be able to pull, I mean, it’s 80% of the appraised value, so then I was able to pull out a $78,000 HELOC.
Henry:
Well, I want to caveat one thing though, because I just want to make sure that we’re clear on the terms. I love this strategy, by the way. So you essentially did a burr, except I call it a modified BRRR. It’s a BRR. Instead of a refinance at the end, it’s a HELOC at the end. And so you actually didn’t pull money out, you just got access to a line of credit. I like this strategy more than the BRRR. And the reason I do is because when you refinance, you’re getting a new loan at a higher amount, which then lessens your cash flow. But because you just pulled a line of credit, you gave yourself access to the equity, but you didn’t get a new loan at a higher amount. Your loan stays the same and you only pay more when you borrow the money against the HELOC.
So he was saying he pulled money out. He didn’t necessarily pull it out. He got access to it. I think it’s a fantastic strategy. I’m glad you went that route. So you’ve now got access to this $70,000 line of credit, and so that gives you buying power, right? So what did you do with that?
Kent:
I bought another single family right around 1700 square feet, and I was going to turn it into a duplex, but I bought it for $30,000. So
Henry:
You paid cash from your line of credit. So you pulled out 35,000. Again, why I like this strategy? Because he didn’t refinance, he didn’t get a new loan. He was able to use $35,000 of the 70,000 he had access to. So you’re actually only paying interest only payments on 35,000 versus having, if you did on a refinance, you’re essentially paying for all the money at once. So you pull out 35,000, you pay cash for a house that you want to convert from a single to a multi. Now, were you specifically targeting single families that had the potential to be multis or was this just coincidence?
Kent:
Ideally, I wanted duplexes or tries. They’re the easiest to renovate. I mean, the whole BRR process is easier for. The whole idea of duplexes and tries is I like one renter to pay the mortgage and one renter to pay me. So when you look at multifamilies, it’s just a cash flow and that ideally has always been my goal.
Henry:
So 35,000, how much did it cost you to renovate this one?
Kent:
20,000 all in.
Henry:
What are you getting in rents on those units?
Kent:
A thousand for the two bedroom on the upstairs and then 900 for the one bedroom.
Henry:
So $30,000 purchase, $20,000 rehab, all in for 50, bringing in $1,900 a month. Again, that is a fantastic cash flowing deal. Did you finance this one the same way or did you do it a little different?
Kent:
So when I went to get that refinanced, that’s when I went the commercial loan route, which I really, I love it. It’s just so much simpler, so much quicker. So then it got reappraised at 110. So I pulled an $85,000 loan out on that and was able to pay off $20,000 of credit card debt and pay down that $30,000 that I initial investment.
Henry:
Okay, because you paid cash and you probably funded the renovation out of your own pocket. So you’re all in 50, but it’s 50 cash. So then you went and you got a loan on the property itself for 80. That gives you some cash in your pocket to pay off your debts. And an $80,000 loan bringing in $1,900 a month is still phenomenal cash flow. Plus you were able to pay off credit card debt, which essentially increases cash flow too, because now you’re not paying those credit card bills. That’s awesome, man. And I know a lot of people are listening and they’re thinking, “Man, well, I can’t buy $30,000 houses.” Well, A, you can because you can invest out of state if you want to. And B, there’s markets like this all over the country. So don’t just believe the lie of if you’re paying less than $100,000 that you’re getting some piece of crap that is going to cost you more to fix it up than it is to sell it.
There are plenty of markets where the price points are lower. There’s obviously risk to those things. Usually markets with lower price points like this don’t have a ton of appreciation. So I’m curious, is that what it’s like in your market? Do these properties appreciate with the national average or do they kind of just sit flat? It
Kent:
Would sit flat. I mean, when it comes to risk, I like to think of it as lower risk than anything else because – It is low risk. The money that I’m putting into it, the amount of money that I would invest into a $30,000 house compared to a $300,000 house, I’m just mitigating risk just in the initial price point.
Henry:
It’s a sliding scale, right? It’s a seesaw. Typically, if you’re in a market where you’re getting tons of appreciation, cash flow is none, negative, hard to find. Inversely, when you’re in a market where you can get phenomenal cash flow, I mean, we’re talking a debt service of 600 bucks, bringing in $3,000. That is phenomenal cash flow, but you’re not going to get a ton of appreciation. That’s just how real estate tends to work. So you need to figure out, if you’re listening to the show, to figure out what your strategy is, you have to set your own goals and then buy properties in a market that allow you to meet those goals, right? There’s going to be ups and there’s going to be downs, there’s going to be risks, and you want to be rewarded for the risk. I think that this is a decent strategy if you’re trying to build up cashflow, heavy cashflow market.
Before we move on to this next deal, Kent mentioned that he used a HELOC on his first house to fund his second property. And if you’re a BiggerPockets Pro member, we have a new perk with our HELOC partner, Avan, that can get you a $400 statement credit. So go and check that out if you’re a BiggerPockets Pro member. All right, Kent, I love these deals. I think this is a good strategy in what seems to be a very highly cashflow heavy market. You’re from the market, you live in the market, so you understand that market. I think that that’s a smart investment plan. Paint us a picture here in terms of time. The first deal was 2024 in July. How long was it between that one and this deal?
Kent:
I got this deal done in February of 2025.
Henry:
So about seven months later you did this next deal. Okay. That’s a reasonable timeframe. You did one deal, you learned some lessons, you go and do another deal. That’s great. Okay. And how long did it take you from deal two to deal three?
Kent:
It took a little bit longer because that’s when I got my son involved into this real estate journey. First one was a home run. The second one was going really well, and I knew that it was going to work out because I already had the cash. And another duplex while I was working on my second property, another duplex came up for $44,000.
Henry:
Okay. This was on the market listed?
Kent:
This is on the market listed for 44,000. All
Henry:
Right.
Kent:
I had to get there immediately because I knew when duplexes come up in Altoona, they go quickly.
Henry:
How old was your son at the time?
Kent:
19.
Henry:
Okay. Okay. Awesome.
Kent:
So he’s a 19-year-old. He was in college, but over the summer, he was going to fix a duplex up, basically do the same thing, pull equity out of it, and then do one property a year for the next four years while he was in college. So I got the house for $44,000. So I put 15, $16,000 down on it.
Henry:
Okay. Did you use the HELOC to put the money down or did you?
Kent:
Yeah.
Henry:
Yeah, at a boy.
Kent:
I did a commercial loan on this as well because I’m working with a local bank. So again, I think it’s benefits to be working with your local banks because they know the area. They know how to make things work.
Henry:
So typical structure of a loan for a local community bank, if you’re doing a fix and flip or some sort of construction loan, it’s 85% of purchase, 100% of rehab. So you got to put 15% down. So that was your 15% down payment you were talking about. You borrowed that from your line of credit on deal one. How much did the renovation of this duplex cost
Kent:
You? I think we took a $15,000 renovation loan with this commercial loan. So as you’re doing the work, they’ll pay you back, but we really needed about 25,000. So it was, again, a big property and the flooring is what we didn’t figure it out right. And then the caveat to all this, we’re lucky as in my dad as a union carpenter and would come down two to three days a week and help him fix this property up.
Henry:
So you got the whole family involved, grandpa, dad and son all working on this property. That’s super cool. So total budget was about $25,000, it sounds like, on the renovation of this duplex. You paid 44, you’ve got 25 in it, so you’re all in for just under $70,000. And what are you renting those units for?
Kent:
1,200 and 1,200.
Henry:
That is awesome.
Kent:
Yeah, it was fantastic. And then we refinanced this and he was able to pull out $72,000 out of his first property.
Henry:
As a 19-year-old.
Kent:
Yeah. Wow. Wow. He turned 20 till he refinanced it. But at 20 years old, we went to a lawyer and they wrote him a check for $72,000.
Henry:
How scared did that make you?
Kent:
No, he’s the most frugal kid you’ll ever meet. I knew he won’t spend a dime of it.
Henry:
Oh, I can’t imagine getting a $70,000 check at 19. I
Kent:
Was
Henry:
Not that responsible.
Kent:
No, he does great with his money. So he did pay me back. So I put the initial investment in and had to fund some of the flooring and some of the kitchen renovation. So he was able to pay me back $18,000. But then he’s still sitting in the bank with over $50,000.
Henry:
So what made you want to pull your son into this deal? What brought that about?
Kent:
Just financial security. It’s financial future. It’s making, one, giving him the opportunity to be successful later in life. I mean, he’s going to have this property for the next 30 years, just cash flowing 1,500 to $2,000. He can pay it down. He could sell it.You’ve always talked about having multiple exit strategies, and that’s what you have when you buy these properties. As long as you think about different ways of, do you want the cash flow? Do you want the HELOC? Do you need more cash? Are you going to do another deal? So we kind of talked through all that, but because I was so fortunate on my first two deals and because the price points are so low, we’re kind of mitigazing that risk, which is great.
Henry:
What was it like working on this property with your dad and your son, seeing something go from what it was when you purchased it to this investment property that’s producing income?
Kent:
It’s fantastic. I mean, it’s nice word of my son and then my dad comes out and helps out. I mean, we just have a good time. My nephews would come down and do some painting. So almost have a party and just hang out and then we just feed everybody and get free labor. It’s fantastic.
Henry:
All right, Kent, thanks for sharing that story. That’s super cool, getting your family involved and still pulling off another amazingly well cash flowing deal. I’m assuming there’s some more and we’ll dive into those deals right after the break. All right, we are back on the BiggerPockets Podcast. I’m speaking with investor Kent Long, who has pulled off some pretty amazing cash flowing deals. Now we’re onto what looks like deal four-ish, if you want to count deal three. It was your son’s deal technically, but you helped him with that. So deal three and a half. So what’d you do with deal three and a half?
Kent:
Found a duplex, I believe it was on the market for 65 and I got it for 55 in pretty good shape. The kicker was there was tenants on the first floor already, so ideally I’m going to keep them. And then I actually, you’re not going to love this, I paid a contractor to do the work.
Henry:
No, I love that. I think you should absolutely do that.
Kent:
So I got a $25,000 renovation loan with my commercial loan. The $25,000 paid for the second floor renovation, so painting, putting in a kitchen and flooring.
Henry:
Did you leave the tenants on the first floor at market rents or did you have to raise rents?
Kent:
So their rent was $450 a month.
Henry:
Okay.
Kent:
So I came in and was like, again, I took this from one of your previous podcasts is not just jump them up to market rate. So I just slow rolled them, I’ll increase you a hundred bucks a month for multiple months and I need you to eventually get to 750. 750 is still a little below market, but they’re paying all utilities. And while that renovation was going on, they were covering the mortgage
Henry:
Because
Kent:
It’s a $55 loan.
Henry:
Tenants aren’t stupid. They understand that you have a mortgage and taxes and insurance. Now they may not want to pay more rent, but they understand. And I have always found that if I just sit down and am honest with people, share the plan and give them a say in how we get there, they’re so much happier. Market rents are X. That’s the first thing, right? It’s to show them. If you move, you’re going to be paying 850 a month for the same property, or I can let you stay here for 750. That’s where I got to get you to. Can you help me come up with a plan to get you there? If I’ve got to tweak your rent every month, how much can we afford to go up every month? And when I give them a say in it, they don’t feel like I just did something to them.
They feel like they got to work with me to keep them in their home, which is always a better strategy. So purchase price, 55. Renovation, 25. So you’re all in for $80,000 and you got the one tenant on the first floor up to 750 a month in rent. And what were you able to get in the second floor?
Kent:
$1,000 for the second floor, two bedroom.
Henry:
All right. So 1750 gross rents on $80,000 of debt. This is a recent deal that you found in an affordable market that produces a ton of cash flow. There are markets like this all over the country. I love that you’re using strategies like lines of credit and community banks to grow your business. That is exactly how I grew my business. And I like the pace at which you’re doing these deals because it seems like you’re doing about a deal every six months or so. Is this your only job or are you working some other job at the same time?
Kent:
So my nine to five as a regional manager, as an occupational therapist, I oversee 18 skilled nursing facility therapy departments.
Henry:
So you’re doing this part-time with a full-time gig where you’re traveling a ton. How much time you’re putting in on a weekly or monthly basis into your real estate business?
Kent:
I wouldn’t even say an hour or two a week. If I do three or four a month maybe.
Henry:
Yeah. I like this. I like the story because most real estate investors are mom and pop folks just like you and just like me to some level where you do a few deals here and there, you get them stabilized, and then you move on to the next one. You do it in your spare time. It’s not something that you’re taking all of your focus and you’re able to still produce good income and cash flow when things are done the right way. I love that you’re leveraging the community banks. I love that you’re leveraging HELOCs and lines of credit, but this is just basic real estate investment strategy. This isn’t new. This is literally things that have been around for decades. Anyone can do this kind of strategy. So your goal getting into this was to buy assets, produce passive income. Where do you feel like you are on that roadmap?
Because you’re still self-managing, so there’s some work involved there. You’re doing some of the renovations here and there, so there’s some work involved there, but you’re also producing a good amount of income. So how many more deals do you think you need to do before you can really start to remove yourself from some of those things?
Kent:
My initial goal was to do 10 in five years, and I think I’m going to get eight done in probably maybe three and a half years.
Henry:
Before we get out of here, let’s kind of give everybody a recap of your portfolio. So how many deals have you done? How many doors do you have? How much cash flow is it producing?
Kent:
I have four properties, two duplexes, two triplexes, and then they’re cash flowing $5,500 a month currently right now. And that’s in a two-year timeframe.
Henry:
That’s pretty cool. And that includes your fourth deal, which looks like you bought a duplex for around 90 grand and you turned that one into a triplex?
Kent:
Correct. That one was the biggest renovation and then the biggest workload for me for sure. The duplex was already done. There was new floors, some carpeting. Both of those rentals were ready to go when I bought the property. I put two renters in there immediately, and then I’m getting 950 each for both of those. And then the first floor was an old corner store and it was a disaster. It was dirty. There was an old deli fridge still sitting in there that I had to use a sledgehammer to get out of there because it was so big. And then I took about two dumpster fulls of garbage to even get that first floor cleaned up, and I converted into a three bedroom, one bath on that downstairs unit.
Henry:
And what was the budget for that renovation?
Kent:
About $30,000 I put into
Henry:
This. So you’re all in for 120 and you rented that back unit for how much?
Kent:
1200.
Henry:
So that puts you at total gross rents of about $3,100. $3,100 on $120,000 of debt is phenomenal cash flow. And so this one was an on the market duplex again as well.
Kent:
Correct. Yep. I just got it refinanced and I’m able to pull 83,000 out of it, and then I’m paying my HELOC down to zero with that. Oh boy.
Henry:
Yeah.
Kent:
And you start all over again.
Henry:
So after all of these deals, what’s the goal going forward? Are you going to try to get to 10 in your timeframe or are you going to evaluate yourself after this eight?
Kent:
Ideally, I would love to get four more in the next year and a half.
Henry:
Okay.
Kent:
And when I turn 50, a year and a half from now, just kind of be done and then retire my nine to five
Henry:
Job. All right, Kent, thank you so much for sharing this story. This is such a cool story. What amazing deals. I love that you’ve done this in a recent timeframe. I love that you’re buying the properties on the market and I love that they’re producing cash flow that is getting you to your goals, seems like ahead of time to where you can actually leave your nine to five. I love that you were able to bring in your son and your dad and have everybody work together to build wealth because that’s truly the dream. Those bonds and those memories last forever, and it’s pretty cool to be able to share that with your family. So thank you for sharing that story.
Kent:
Yeah, I appreciate the time. Thank you so much, Henry.
Henry:
Thank you very much. And thank you guys for listening to this episode of the BiggerPockets Podcast. Again, if you have a story you would like to share on the podcast, then you can go to biggerpockets.com/guest and you can apply to share your story with us right here on the BiggerPockets Podcast. As always, thank you for listening and we’ll see you on the next episode.
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California’s new ‘Adam’s Law’ on chatbots shows OpenAI’s strategy shift on state AI regulations
In 2025, a California teenager named Adam Raine took his life after ChatGPT allegedly coached him on how to do it. The tragic event inspired “Adam’s Law,” which California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law on Thursday.
The law requires AI chatbot companies to adopt safeguards to protect users—especially children—from harmful content and manipulative interactions, while holding companies liable for failing to take reasonable measures to prevent chatbot interactions from harming users’ mental health.
OpenAI lobbied to shape the bill as part of its latest regulatory strategy to influence state-level bills. Ann O’Leary, OpenAI’s Vice President of Global Policy, worked with its authors, Assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, Assembly member Buffy Wicks, and Senator Steve Padilla.
Sometimes the conversations got heated, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
“There were moments of intense negotiation, you know, as there are with any of these types of issues,” said a source familiar with the negotiations. “It occasionally got heightened.”
The source was unable to disclose which points were most contentious. OpenAI said its role in the conversations was to educate policymakers on how the latest AI models work. The company also clarified how it differs from social media, in that there is no continuous scroll, and their data shows most teens engage with the technology to work on specific projects.
Representatives from Anthropic, Google, Meta, and Amazon also had a seat at the table and were “equally involved” in the discussions, an OpenAI spokesperson tells Fortune. Each had their own “key points” and unique arguments. Anthropic, for example, was able to negotiate out of having to abide by the bill because it does not allow users under 18.
Adam’s Law introduces several safeguards for AI chatbot companies. For example, they must have timely in-app crisis support, age verification, limitations on targeted advertising to children, and parental controls. It also introduces liability for AI companies if they fail to “take reasonable measures to prevent several categories of harmful outputs, including self-harm, sexually explicit material, romantic roleplaying, excessive praise or flattery, and emotionally manipulative outputs that tend to foster reliance and promote isolation from friends and family,” according to the announcement. AI companies must also implement a mechanism to report incidents.
After Adam’s Law cleared the California legislature and headed to Newsom’s desk, O’Leary praised the effort. “We are happy to support this bill,” she said on LinkedIn. “We believe that it will set the standard for AI youth safety moving forward.”
A 180-degree change in OpenAI’s regulatory strategy
OpenAI’s interest in shaping state regulations is an abrupt departure from its focus on stopping state-level AI laws just one year ago. At the time, OpenAI was arguing that regulating AI at the state level would sow confusion and create too high a compliance burden on AI companies. Chris LeHane, the company’s vice president of global policy, wrote a lengthy post on LinkedIn in 2025 that strongly suggested the company favored the efforts by some Congressional Republicans and the Trump White House to impose a moratorium on state-level AI regulations.
“Recent proposals like a federal moratorium reflect how seriously Congress is taking this issue,” LeHane wrote. “We support the goal of a strong, national approach and will take direction from Congress on the best way to achieve that goal.” Meanwhile, Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president, had personally donated tens of millions of dollars to a super PAC, Leading the Future, that opposed state-level AI laws.
In an August 2025 letter to Newsom, OpenAI warned that a “patchwork of state rules…could slow innovation without improving safety.” But now, OpenAI advocates for that exact patchwork, saying it will “step by step” form “a de facto national standard,” according to a July 2026 blog post authored by LeHane.
“As we see a lack of action federally on AI, states will increasingly look to regulate in this space,” James Czerniawski, head of Emerging Tech Policy at the Consumer Choice Center, tells Fortune.
LeHane calls the AI lab’s new approach “reverse federalism,” and names California, New York, and Illinois in its post as examples of states that are on the forefront of AI policy. This shift has accompanied a growing backlash against AI, including data centers. Anti-AI sentiment escalated to panic and anxiety this month after a viral social media post from an ex-Anthropic researcher who claimed the AI industry is aware the technology may kill all humans within the decade. The head of alignment at Anthropic confirmed that is the case, and multiple other AI employees came out of the woodwork to echo the message as well.
The Trump Administration attempted to pass a 10-year moratorium on states passing any AI regulation, including it in a May 2025 draft of the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” It passed in the House but was met with overwhelming disapproval in the Senate and did not pass. In December, Trump issued an executive order aimed at challenging state AI laws and pushing for a national regulatory framework.
OpenAI still supports the national framework—LeHane writes that “ultimately, the United States would be best served by a national framework.” However, he says that “in the absence of one, states can move us there by passing laws that mirror one another.” CEO Sam Altman continues to advocate for a federal framework that “sets consistent safety requirements for frontier AI,” he wrote on X last night.
Chatbot law could be a model for other states
OpenAI must comply with the law for California users only. If they choose to roll out these features nationally that would be “a business decision, not a requirement under state law,” Erin Ivie, communications director for state assemblyperson Buffy Wicks, one of the bill’s co-authors, tells Fortune. “Now that the law has passed, other states, or the federal government, may use our bill as a model and pass their own version.”
There is precedent for California’s laws inspiring other states to adopt similar ones. In July, New Jersey Senator Andy Kim introduced a version of California’s digital age verification law. It’s “a comprehensive federal age-assurance framework that follows California’s important work in this space,” said Senator Adam Schiff, a bill co-sponsor.
However, some are skeptical that state-level AI regulation can be effective. “I think it’s problematic insofar as it creates a fragmented online experience for users depending on what geographic location they’re in,” said Czerniawski. He notes that kids can get around the laws as well by using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).
Others say any regulation is better than none, and Adam’s parents strongly supported the bill. “We still have not adjusted to life without Adam, but we are pleased that an element of his legacy is to help make AI chatbots safer for minors,” said Matt and Maria Raine. “We believe the risks of unregulated AI companionship rank right up there with other more discussed AI risks, and we are confident Adam’s Law will save lives and prevent other harms.”