First, I would like to mention that I actually think this is a great job for younger people who are perhaps still in school and want to be able to put the title of Manager on a resume later in life. However, I will provide as much detail as possible on the Cons that I can easily think of just to provide you with as clear of a picture of the job's drawbacks as possible. Most of these were not significant enough to me personally to matter, but you should be aware of them so that you can judge for yourself how well you may fit in this position. I just don't want someone to see my long list of cons and think that it means the job is terrible or that I am trashing the company. I just like to be specific and thorough.
Most properties have video cameras in the offices which are linked up to a DVR which your Area and District Managers can access freely. If you have a good DM and you are a good employee, then this is likely not going to be an issue for you. But, for those of you who may have a less than friendly DM, or who are generally uncomfortable with the possibility of being watched/recorded, then this may be an issue for you.
Of course, customers can also be a source of stress, and any job in which you work with the public shares this hassle.
Your experience in this position will vary heavily depending upon your General Manager (basically your immediate boss at your property, and likely the only other coworker you regularly see unless you cover other properties very often) and your District/Area Managers (which one of these two you interact with depends upon your district and company climate at the time. When I started, there was an area manager, then the position was eliminated and the area manager went back to being a normal GM, then a few years later another person was promoted to AM, and by the time I left there was talk of promoting a second AM). Managers have little control over how your accounts receivable and liens are handled, which are a big component of how your bonus is calculated. This means that if your GM decides to give a tenant an extra month to pay their past-due rent, or makes a mistake in their lien paperwork, or a variety of other situations, then you will lose a large portion of your bonus for that month(possibly quarter, I forget how often the bonuses were paid out) because your accounts receivable are too high. For that matter, the AR goals of all properties are calculated as a percentage of the property's total income, which is perfectly fine for most locations, but certain properties which are in worse neighborhoods will have consistently higher ARs and little hope of lowering them, and thus will not make much bonus money. Also, while your GM will be giving you an annual performance review, you do not get the opportunity to review your GM unless you deliberately complain to your AM or DM, which can cause you problems in a smaller office setting.
Unfortunately, there is not a lot of room for advancement from this starting point in the company. It is rare that there is an opening for a new GM, and in such a case you should reach out to your DM and let them know if you are interested in the position (they typically will not think to ask Managers if they would be interested in the position unless the vacancy is at their home location). In a district that may have anywhere from 10 to 30 locations, there is normally only 1 or 2 area managers (and if I recall correctly, this position may require some college coursework or an associate's degree, but if interested, you should double check) and therefore even more rarely a chance to be promoted to this position. Promotion to DM is, in my experience, something like spotting a shooting star. You know that it happens, and you probably have friends who have seen it happen, but its not the sort of thing that's common. For one, being a DM requires a bachelors degree (at least it did when I worked there, so you many want to double check), and surprisingly few GMs or AMs have one of these. Also, it is more often the case that the properties in your district will simply be reassigned to another DM when a sudden vacancy in the position occurs (this happened when my DM sadly passed away). So, it would be hard for you to move into a DM position unless you knew that your current DM would be leaving, or that the company is looking to expand and create a new DM position, and you are willing to relocate for this purpose.
