Margette Hepfner has been appointed executive director of resident loyalty at Bilt. She joins as the company continues to roll out its new Resident Loyalty 2.0 platform.
As a property partner, Hepfner has experienced the platform and carries her over 20 years’ experience in multifamily operations leadership to her new role that will begin Aug. 1. Hepfner most recently served as chief operating officer of residential management at Willow Bridge Property Co.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Margette to the Bilt team,” says Ankur Jain, Bilt founder and CEO. “Her exceptional track record of scaling real estate operations and deep understanding of what drives resident satisfaction make her the perfect leader to help our property partners adopt Bilt’s Resident Loyalty platform.”
Hepfner will work directly with real estate partners to boost their existing leasing incentives and resident engagement programs. She shares more on her plans below.
As you step into your new role, what are your top three goals for Bilt?
First, I want to help operators understand that resident loyalty isn’t an amenity, it’s a business strategy. After managing over 227,000 units, I’ve seen firsthand how retention drives profitability. My goal is to work with property partners to show how Bilt can transform their approach from offering generic concessions to creating meaningful resident experiences that actually impact their bottom line.
Second, we’re focused on widespread adoption of Resident Loyalty 2.0. This means helping operators save up to 20% on their existing leasing incentive spend while making those incentives more effective.
Third, I want to establish new benchmarks for resident engagement. We can shift the entire industry conversation from transactional relationships to connected experiences with their residents. That’s the future of multifamily.
What is your strategy for boosting resident engagement?
It comes down to meeting residents where they are. Rent is typically someone’s largest monthly expense, but we’ve struggled to add value beyond housing. Bilt changes that fundamental equation.
Through our network of 50,000 merchants—from Walgreens to local restaurants and studios—residents earn rewards not just on rent, but on their daily activities throughout their neighborhood. This isn’t about forcing engagement; it’s about creating genuine value that residents actually want.
For property teams, this ecosystem allows them to design incentives that encourage the behaviors they care about—renewals, referrals, community participation—without feeling manufactured. When residents see real benefits, engagement becomes natural.
In what ways can Bilt benefit property managers?
Bilt makes on-site teams’ jobs easier, period. These teams are already juggling leasing goals, resident satisfaction, and operational challenges with limited resources.
As a payment processor, Bilt makes it easy for residents to earn rewards automatically when they pay rent on time, without adding any cost to the property. It’s a simple way to turn something residents already do into a meaningful benefit. For owners and operators, this also creates immediate savings by replacing traditional concessions with loyalty points, and it helps drive faster leasing decisions by offering more meaningful and personalized incentive packages.
The platform also delivers portfoliowide analytics that help managers understand what actually drives retention—not just what we think does. This data becomes invaluable for strategic planning and budget allocation.
Most important, it creates a positive cycle: Satisfied residents are more likely to stay, to recommend their community to others, to actively promote where they live … they become brand advocates for their community. That energy not only fuels leasing success, but it directly improves the day-to-day experience for on-site teams with their residents.
How can the new loyalty platform connect residents to their communities?
For the first time, we’re connecting the home to the entire neighborhood experience through leasing incentives. Property managers can create custom offers that extend beyond traditional concessions—think artificial intelligence-powered rewards bundles that might include Bilt Points, neighborhood restaurant credits, fitness classes, or Lyft credits.
This approach makes residents feel connected to both their property and the broader community. It’s about creating a sense of place, not just providing a place to live.
What else are you excited about in this new role?
The human element. In multifamily, we’re not managing buildings—we’re managing people’s homes. Our on-site teams work in millions of homes every day, and that comes with real responsibility.
Having led operational transformations across 800-plus properties, I understand the pressures property managers face. My focus is ensuring Bilt integrates seamlessly into existing workflows and actually helps teams rather than creating more work.
The timing is perfect. The industry is finally moving beyond the traditional concession mindset toward solutions that work for both properties and residents. Bilt represents that evolution—a better way to think about leasing incentives and resident relationships.
