We have found with all our places that when we are satisfied with an agent but not some of the management contract conditions they will usually agree to cutting these out if you negotiate or just cross them out when signing. Eg we didn't want to pay a $15/mth admin fee, so we crossed it out. Also didn't want to pay a half week rent for re-newing a lease so crossed this out too. Plus we always change the notice period to between 30 days or less, rather than 60/90.
I agree with Derek, make sure you find out the standard rate in the area and then negotiate down. They are trying to win your business after all and will usually meet you at a lower rate to avoid losing you to the competition.
Recently we decided on a company who had been wonderful to deal with prior to signing and then the property was handed over to an inexperienced PM who stuffed us around. Out of that we learnt that the agents will put a lot more effort into finding you a good tenant and fast when you multi list and they are racing another agency to win the business. A lesson learned the hard way (property empty for four weeks before I took it into my own hands to fix) but good for the future!
