Bilt buys Livly, teams with Collective Residential in growth push. The combo blends property management and smart-building tools in a push to connect apartments with the neighborhood economy Bilt has acquired Livly's property-operations platform and struck a resident-experience partnership with Collective Residential, extending its "hospitality for housing" model deeper into the multifamily stack. The deal folds Livly's access control, package management and smart-home capabilities into Bilt's existing leasing, payments and resident-engagement tools, creating a unified system that runs from first tour through renewal and into neighborhood commerce, the companies announced Tuesday. Bilt will also operate the resident experience at Collective Residential communities through the Bilt platform, further expanding the company's multifamily footprint. Collective Residential includes FLATS, the Chicago-based operator that originally built Livly in-house to address recurring operational challenges in its own portfolio. Financial terms of the Livly acquisition were not disclosed. What Bilt is buying. Livly was developed as a vertically integrated property-operations system for multifamily, with a focus on functions that have become pain points for large portfolios as buildings adopt more hardware and software: * Access control for residents, staff and visitors * Package management as e-commerce volume strains existing mailrooms * Smart-home integrations, including thermostats, leak detection, EV charging and self-guided touring Those systems sit alongside amenities scheduling, service requests and other workflows inside Livly. Embedded into Bilt, they become one layer of a broader platform that already spans leasing, payments and loyalty. Ankur Jain, founder and CEO of Bilt, said the combined platform is aimed at operators looking beyond traditional property management software. "Most property management software was built to run buildings, not grow businesses," Jain said. "We're giving operators a merchant network that drives real demand from the neighborhood economy around the property, and AI agents that work across the systems they already have. That's revenue for the operator and a reason for residents to stay engaged 365 days a year, well beyond their four walls. Livly is a foundational piece of this." Why this matters for multifamily owners and operators. The transaction underscores several trends reshaping multifamily technology strategy: * Consolidation of point solutions: Owners and third-party managers have spent the past decade layering on point tools for access, packages, payments, engagement and amenities. Many large portfolios now run dozens of separate systems that overlap or don't talk to each other. Bilt is positioning itself as a single "operating layer" across that fragmented stack. * From cost center to revenue platform: Bilt's model ties property operations to loyalty, neighborhood merchants, travel and local services. For owners and asset managers, that opens a potential revenue and retention story - not just an efficiency pitch - as buildings plug into a wider consumer network. * Resident lifecycle and data: A unified platform from prospect through renewal gives operators a more complete view of resident behavior, spend and churn risk. That data can inform pricing, renewal strategies, amenity investments and NOI-focused asset plans. For multifamily executives evaluating proptech stacks, the Bilt-Livly deal is another signal that the market is moving away from standalone "single feature" platforms toward a smaller number of deeply integrated ecosystems. It also raises competitive pressure on incumbents that have historically focused on back-office accounting and core PMS functions, rather than resident-facing experiences and external merchant networks. Collective Residential's role. Collective Residential, a national property management platform that acquires and partners with local operators, is aligning its portfolio's resident experience with Bilt as part of the announcement. Collective was formed by owners and operators who buy into and roll up respected management firms, providing shared infrastructure, back-office support and technology enablement while preserving on-the-ground teams and relationships. That makes Collective a strategic distribution channel for Bilt in markets where local brands still carry weight with residents and owners. Running resident engagement through Bilt at Collective communities offers a live proving ground for the combined system at scale and across different asset types, markets and resident profiles. Tying buildings to the neighborhood economy. Bilt describes its broader strategy as "neighborhood hospitality." Beyond core housing functions, the platform connects residents to neighborhood merchants, dining, fitness and local services, as well as airline and hotel partners through its rewards program. By owning customer identity, payments, loyalty and bookings infrastructure, Bilt aims to help operators treat each property as part of a larger service and commerce network rather than a standalone building. The company says that can translate into higher resident engagement, more stickiness at renewal and incremental revenue streams tied to partner offers and local spend. For multifamily firms, the strategic question is how far to lean into this kind of ecosystem play - and whether integrating with a platform like Bilt can deliver measurable lift in retention and revenue versus building or stitching together internal solutions. Transition for existing Livly customers. Bilt said it has developed a transition plan intended to maintain continuity for communities currently running on Livly while layering in Bilt's broader features. According to the announcement, the migration is designed to preserve the operational capabilities that on-site teams rely on today and add: * Integrated rent and housing payments * AI-powered concierge and service support * Neighborhood experiences and offers * Bilt Rewards loyalty program * Unified smart-building management across devices and hardware Livly co-founders Alex Samoylovich, Brian Duggan and Adam McCombs framed the transaction as a way to extend their original building-level operating system into the surrounding neighborhood and financial ecosystem. "We built Livly around a fundamental belief: the resident experience would ultimately be shaped by a unified operating platform that makes communities easier to run and better to live in," the founders said. "What began as an operating system for the building can now extend into the neighborhood, connecting where people live with the financial, digital, and experiential infrastructure that surrounds them." For property teams, the near-term impact will hinge on how smoothly the migration handles integrations with existing PMS, access hardware, accounting and messaging tools - and whether Bilt can demonstrate tangible improvements to staff workflow and resident satisfaction during and after the transition. Bilt's multifamily footprint. Launched in 2021, Bilt operates a membership and hospitality platform centered on where members live, offering rewards on rent and housing payments and redemption options across travel, fitness and neighborhood merchants. The Bilt Alliance now includes more than 7 million homes across the United States, developed with large residential owners and operators, according to the company. For multifamily owners, the company's pitch combines resident-facing benefits - rewards, services and local experiences - with back-end tools for payments, engagement, operations and now smart-building infrastructure through Livly. What to watch. As this integration rolls out, industry participants will be watching: * Adoption by third-party managers: Whether fee managers and regional operators choose to adopt the combined platform beyond Collective Residential and existing Bilt Alliance partners. * Impact on renewals and ancillary revenue: Whether Bilt can document improvements in renewal rates, resident satisfaction scores and fee/partner revenue at properties that deploy its full stack. * Competitive response: How traditional PMS providers, smart-building vendors and resident app platforms respond - through partnerships, acquisitions or new feature launches. For now, the acquisition adds momentum to a broader reshaping of multifamily technology, as owners and operators look to simplify vendor lists, reduce integration overhead and tie resident experience more directly to NOI.

Proper expands to nearly 20,000 units across 15 states as Alex Samoylovich advances operator-led growth model. GlobeNewswire | Alex Samoylovich Today at 1:02pm PDT CHICAGO, IL, March 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - CHICAGO, IL - March 09, 2026 - - Proper, a national acquisitions and property management platform, announced the acquisitions of Novo Properties and Alexander Properties Group, bringing the organization to six operating companies and expanding its footprint to nearly 20,000 units across 15 states. The company said the latest additions strengthen its strategy of combining national infrastructure with local operating leadership, a model Executive Chairman and Founder Alex Samoylovich describes as "Flexible Autonomy". With the additions of Novo Properties and Alexander Properties Group, Proper now includes Novo Properties, Alexander Properties Group, FLATS, Guardian, CommonPlace, and Drexel. The company said the expanded platform is designed to help regional operators gain access to broader resources while preserving the local relationships, operating knowledge, and accountability that drive property-level performance. "The property management industry is fragmented and facing increasing operational headwinds," said Alex Samoylovich. "We are building the solution we wished existed when we were independent operators. By bringing together six strong operating companies, we are not simply adding units. We are building a collaborative network with shared operational resources, broader geographic reach, and stronger purchasing power." Proper said its "Flexible Autonomy" model is intended to avoid the disruption that can follow forced, immediate integration after an acquisition. Rather than standardizing every process on day one, the platform centralizes selected functions such as back-office support, analytics, procurement, and enterprise infrastructure while allowing local teams to maintain stewardship in their markets. The company said that approach is intended to support continuity for residents, employees, and ownership groups during periods of transition. The latest expansion comes at a time when property management companies are operating in a more complex environment shaped by labor constraints, compliance requirements, rising resident expectations, and growing technology demands. Proper said scale only becomes meaningful when it improves execution at the site level, supports onsite teams, and enhances the resident experience. In that context, the company is positioning its platform as an operating model built around measured integration rather than rapid consolidation for its own sake. Samoylovich said the company's long-term view is that successful platforms in property management will be defined less by size alone and more by the strength of their operating systems. He said shared services, data discipline, and aligned incentives are becoming increasingly important as independent operators look for ways to stay competitive without losing the local identity that made their businesses successful in the first place. "This is how Proper defines Flexible Autonomy," Samoylovich said. "It is a consolidation model designed to create durable enterprise value without sacrificing the relationships, talent, and local accountability that produced performance in the first place." Proper also said the model is intended to serve owners exploring liquidity, succession planning, or strategic alternatives while still seeking continuity for their employees and clients. In many cases, founder-led operators want access to institutional resources and additional scale, but they also want to protect the culture, service standards, and market knowledge they have built over time. Proper said its structure is meant to address both objectives by pairing a larger enterprise platform with local operating continuity. According to the company, the platform's broader reach across 15 states also creates opportunities to improve consistency in systems, reporting, and support functions without displacing local decision-making where market context matters most. That balance, Proper said, is central to its acquisition strategy and to the operating philosophy Alex Samoylovich has emphasized as the company grows. About Proper Proper is a national acquisitions and property management platform headquartered in Chicago and backed by TriSpan, bringing together best-in-class local management companies under a collective model that combines national infrastructure with local stewardship. Learn more about Proper by visiting properpmc.com. About Alex Samoylovich Alex Samoylovich is a real estate developer and entrepreneur focused on multifamily investment, development, and operating execution. He is a Co-founder of CEDARst Companies and has supported projects that require high discipline across underwriting, stakeholder alignment, and delivery controls. His work emphasizes repeatable decisioning, governance-forward documentation, and long-term value creation aligned to neighborhood fundamentals. Learn more by visiting alexsamoylovich.com. Office of Alex Samoylovich This is a paid placement. For further inquiries, please contact GlobeNewswire directly.