Irrelevant.

We weren't talking about Hjerim. We were talking about Honeyhole.

;-)


When you say the bandits never venture inside, do you mean never again after you kill all of them (inside)?

The Keep is crawling with them inside.

Uesp says the Keep never respawns, making all containers safe, but I want to know if the bandits will respawn (specifically inside the keep).

Bandits respawn outside but not inside.

The open surfaces, sacks, barrels and satchel respawn after 10 days, but the cupboard is safe. All of the basemant is safe. I've tested.

Check out my link again. The Alchemist Shack has a safe end table, and also an alchemist table. The Riverside Shack has a safe wardrobe. It also has a chest, but it respawns after 10 days. They both have usable beds and can be fast travelled to. Anise's Cabin has all this, plus an enchanter and a garden.

Then general rule is that all cupboards, wardrobes, dressers and end tables are safe. Chests, barrels, sacks, satchels are NOT safe, unless they are in your bought or built home, and with a few exceptions.

As for complicated - IMO, it's more complicated to clear out respawning bandits than to do a couple of minor quests for a Jarl and get my own home. Building Lakeview Manor is also very easy: You have to reach level 9 (or is it 8) to get a letter from Siddgeir. Go to Siddgeir. You might have to bring him a Black-Briar Mead, but you can have it with you, and I didn't need to, so it might not be a requirement for Hearthfire. He will then send you to a bandit hideout. Kill the bandits, report back, purchse house. Go to the place, find all materials you need for the small house in the chest, build house. Done!

Or bring Ysolda a mammoth tusk/brawl Uthgerd the Unbroken, take a carriage to Riften, talk to the priest about marriage, buy an Amulet of Mara, take carriage back, put Amulet on, talk to the lady in question, get married, gain free house. Done!

Not really. TO become Thane, you will have to do a number of favors for the people of the hold. You don't have to do these favors to buy the house.

Really? That's interesting. Because a respawning container should not reset unless the cell it is located in resets. That is why all barrels and such are safe storage in player homes.

EDIT: Are we still talking about the cellar? The upstairs will reset with game world cell and the satchel, barrels and one of the sacks will reset as well as the stuff laying about. However, the upstairs cupboard and dresser are fine.. as well as one of the sacks ( maybe all of the sacks.. I can't recall )

I believe bandits do exist on the inside. There are only 4 of them in there and a boss chest also there.

We've more than established that they exist inside. We were talking about whether or not they respawn inside.

Anise's cabin. Just kill her and take her home. It has alchemy lab, enchanting table and bed. Be warned that her family WILL send three heavily armed bandits to kill you to avenge her death. You will probably not be strong enough to deal with them. Be warned.

Or, what I like to do on rare occasion is to destroy the Dark Brotherhood and take their sanctuary as my home. It has everything you need:

Alchemy Lab

Enchanting table

Smithy

Word Wall

Lots of beds to store your thralls

Secret entrance

Safe storage

Its my absolute favorite "house" in the game.

I just use the College of Winterhold. For just 80 Gold, you can get to Winterhold, and buy whatever spell Faralda wants off of her. That gets you in, and you can likely use the room set aside for your use without having to sit through Mirabelle's tour. The barrels there aren't safe, but the Wardrobes all are. No gold needed, no quest needed. Just a Misc objective. The only catch is that you're effectively joining the College of Winterhold, which may go against your RP.

From my experience Morthal just requires you to solve their vampire problem no matter what level you are.

of course its advised you wait till about 10 so you atleast got a fighting chance against the enemies.