I've already returned the Jarl of Markarth's shield to him in that quest and he mentioned something about my becoming a thane, but I am unable to speak with anyone in Markarth's keep about buying property (or about becoming a thane).

No quests seem to be available aside from the recurring "Kill the leader of Red Eagle Redoubt" miscellaneous quest.

Any ideas of why this is happening?

Well, the guy you want to talk to is the old gent sitting down on the Jarl's left (on your right as you enter). I believe in addition to returning the shield, you need to kill a Forsworn leader, possibly that Red Eagle quest? I don't remember it exactly alas.

What level are you? The strategy guide says you have to be at least level 20 to buy the house in Markarth.

I'm level 64.

The only dialogue option with the housecarl is that recurring "kill the forsworn leader" quest and I'm fairly positive I've completed it at least three times now.

Sounds like maybe the quest for the shield didn't update properly. You can use the console command of setstage Favor157 20 and see if that does it. The command will set the shield quest to completed.

Thanks for the suggestion, but it didn't work. The quest finished properly and the console command had no effect.

If I had to make a guess at why this isn't working, I'd suppose that there must be some kind of residual from when I built up a bounty in Markarth. It's all paid off now, but even now when I cast Detect Life the guards in the city are red. Do you think that might have something to do with why the "buy property" option won't come up?

At any rate, the cause of this is rather inconsequential. I just would like to know how I can get myself a house in Markarth despite the lack of dialogue options.

this best not be a bug im just starting this quest lol

I'd read that you might also be able to talk to Reburrus Quintilius in Markarth about purchasing property, but he too lacks the dialogue option.

Is there a fix for this?

I heard somewhere that asking to buy property will lock you out of getting Vlindrel Hall. Just a rumor though. Think it may have been UESP or Elder Scrolls Wiki.

Apparently you need to wait until you get the shield quest and after completing it you get the offer to become Thane and purchase property. Unconfirmed though.

I had to fix this with a console command. The UESP wiki describes the fix.

Do you mean the console command "setstage favor250 20"? Because that won't do anything for me.

I gave him the shield and he said talk to his underling (old dude next to him) about buying property. In my case the underling would not display the purchase optioon so I ued the console command from the wiki to fix it. Another option may be advancing the main quest to the truce if you have not done so already.

Thanks for not using the

Yeah, you have to do the Jarl's two favors/quests: retrieving the shield and killing a forsworn leader in a random camp. Once you've done those things he gives you permission to purchase a house. Then you have to help five citizens (if you have the invest perk in speech, investing in shops counts and is easy). Once you get the house and help five citizens, he names you Thane. For me, after I did the shield quest, I went back in to talk to him and there was an option like "anything else for you my Jarl?", or something to that effect. That's when he gave me the forsworn leader quest. After that quest was complete he then told me I could buy property. At that point, if you've already helped five citizens, you can buy the property from his steward right then, turn back to the Jarl, and he will make you Thane. So the order goes; Befriend the Jarl by doing his two quests, buy a house, help five citizens, talk to the Jarl and become Thane.

No problem. If you haven't got to that point in 30 days you are the slowest player in the world. Since I left out what happens it hardly qualifies as a spoiler.

My choice to play the game at my own pace is hardly a reason for you to spoil the outcome of a quest for me. And as I'm the target I think I'm the one who decides if it's a spoiler or not. No need to argue though, just remember to use it next time

Everyone plays at their own pace. It's also entirely possible that he didn't get the game on release date. I didn't; I also spent a week not being able to play pretty much because of the 1.2 patch borking things up. On top of that I'm an RP nerd who likes to impose immersion restrictions on myself (no power-leveling; no sprinting everywhere like my character's doped up on speed; have to stop every night for sleep/food/drink; etc.), which slows my pace in the game down even more.

I don't really see what you posted as a spoiler, but all the same I think it's best to be respectful of the fact that not everybody is as far along in the game as you are.

Thank you for the detailed reply. I will see if there is anything else in the Reach that I can do to assist people, just in case I somehow overlooked anything. Currently I only have four dialogue options when speaking with the Jarl: "Dragons have returned to Skyrim"; "Has the war been hard on Markarth"; "Why did you arrest the Nord militia"; and "The Empire lost the Reach before? How?"

As a side note, I have noticed that when I enter the Shrine of Talos,

I actually have the exact same problem. Haven't found this bug mentioned on any wikis or anywhere else but here. If I find a solution, I'll make sure and publish it.

Thank you. I will do likewise.

I really hope we can find a fix for this.

Update: I've completed the main quest and I still cannot get any of the dialogue options from either the Jarl or Raerek.

Skyrim Cheats, Hints, and Spoilers section...don't want spoilers stay in the somewhat spoiler free general forum!

I have the same bug on the console. And it was before I did the Stormcloak mission here, so I ended up massacaring all the guards there to complete the mission.
I haven't been back yet since the Fort mission for the Reach. I'll go tonight and see if it's changed. I still have to buy the house, but I had the option even with the guards attacking cause the guy still had the option in his dialogue.

next time you play the game and want the house in markarth, this is what you do, go straight to the jarl and he sends you on a quest to go kill someone, you come back, he rewards you, then he sends you on a quest to get the shield, you bring it back and he offers you to be able to buy property, thats all you need to do, i've done that twice and its worked both times, the first time i had trouble getting the house even though i did every quest in markarth i thought, but on the misc quests list, i forgot to kill the leader, after i figured out what misc quest it was and killed the leader i was able to buy the house, but you only have to do 2 quests to get the house, and be at level 20 i think, thats it...you have to check your misc quest list and figure out the misc quest you're overlooking. most of the problems people have with getting the house has to do with the fact they don't stay focused on the 2 specific quests you need to do to get the house..doing the other markarth quests has nothing to do with the house, they have to do with becoming thane.