Drew, I wrote the top ten posts of the day for a year and during that time followed over 300 blogs on a regular basis. I feel I have a good grasp, at least in my opinion, of some of the strong voices out there. A few others to consider are Rob Hahn (I think has to be in any top 5 group with Davison) Dan Green, Jeff Brown, Justin McHood and Jim Duncan. There are a few great content writers out there that few have ever heard of that include such as Mary Pope-Handy (http://sanjoserealestatelosgatoshomes.com), Joe Manausa (http://www.manausa.com/). Then there is also Michael McClure at Professional One.

Guess it depends on what you mean by voice. If you mean someone who speaks out and generates a lot of discussion then my vote would be for
Davidson
Hahn
Thompson
McHood
McClure or Berg

Dean-
Everyone you mentioned have awesome voice in their writing as well. Picking a top 5 is always tough and someone will inevitably get left out. Maybe I should expand this to 10-15…but then I guess I'd still be leaving people out. Oh well, the comments here will be the rest of the list for people that are really interested in finding examples of great voice.

As a real estate dork myself, and newbie to wordpress/ blogging I have been searching the net for great real estate blogs for content and format ideas. I have found that there is only two types of real estate blogs.

1. A blog were the agent or broker just vomits Re data and listings allover there blog and facebook pages and adds nothing of value to reader.

And

2. Blogs like Ines's miamism or Jay Thompson's were you actually get to know the person who is writing. I think this the best way to go.

Eli

Great question… I follow quite a few bloggers as well.

In real estate:
Ian Watt – http://www.ianwatt.ca/
Brian Copeland – http://nashvilleandbeyond.com/
James Nellis – http://www.nellisgroup.com/Blog/
Ashton Gustafson – http://www.texomahomesource.com/Blog
John Jones – http://www.johncjones.com/Blog

Out of real estate –
Chris Brogan – http://www.chrisbrogan.com/
Chris Guillebeau – http://chrisguillebeau.com/3×5/
Tim Ferriss – http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/

Shamless plug – our new video blog http://www.WestAustinMarketplace.com.

Thanks,
PB

My favorite blog would surprise most people. Most of the blogs I read are on blogging, marketing or social media. Most are somehow related to the real estate field.

I read very few 'personal' blogs, but my favorite blogger writes mostly about his kids and the life lessons that he recognizes from raising them. He throws in an assortment of topics on lessons learned from work and life in general, and once in a while tosses in a tech field comment. His lifestyle and background is about as far as you can get from mine. Still, I can't get enough of his posts. Maybe it's because he has welcomed all of us into his family and his failings, while he strives to do better.

I always feel that I should be as insightful as he is when I finish reading.

You should check him out:

Brent Nordquist
http://blog.nordquist.org/
@akula

Here is a post that gives you an idea of what I mean:
http://blog.nordquist.org/nights-like-these/

Just visited AVC and enjoyed it and subscribed. Nice concise and powerful list Drew.

Just visited AVC and enjoyed it and subscribed. Nice concise and powerful list Drew.

As with anything else, there are different “voice” objectives. Someone with an awesome “radio voice” often has a studied affectation that makes it so. An admirable quality, but others might prefer more reality to the voice, like Harold Stern 🙂

Same is true for bloggers, I appreciate “knowing” someone through their blog voice, so I expect a match. My choices would likely mirror Drew's for that reason. When I met Jay Thompson, I already knew him. Same with Marc Davison.

There are many, many bloggers who have “voice”…but it isn't necessarily “their” voice. It's a professional persona that they adopt much like “the radio voice” and does not reflect a true picture of the person behind that blog-voice. Once a blog is being used as a “marketing tool” and viewed primarily as a “marketing tool”, all too often the “voice” of the blog does not reflect the true personality of the blogger.

That you “like” the person is not the barometer of voice, and the best of bloggers often have a love/hate relationship with their readership. So try naming all the bloggers you hate, as likely they also reflect true “voice” in their blogging.

There are many bloggers I have met whom I did not like in person…and I did not like their blogging either. It was “a match” and they have “voice”. For the consumer, knowing who they do not like, is just as important as finding the ones you do like.

Well, I still like me. 🙂