I have read on this and read on this so I know a little bit. I've been playing Skyrim for only two weeks now. I'm still a newb. When you read up on other games online there are definites. This game is about to make me pull my hair out with all it's might happen and maybe and if you got a patch and if you don't and if you're on PC or on Console. I have never seen so much conflicting data.

I am trying to get a house on a low budget.

I opted for Riften even tho I wanted to avoid thieves and assassins and little orphan annie's cruel cage. I was in a hurry for this and already piffed off some dude by not talking to him and can't advance a quest. I am playing a holy good upright High Elf who joined the Stormcloaks to stop my evil people (those other elves who's names I can't remember) from taking over the human world; the jerks. I want to abide the laws (if the stupid deity stuffed Scooby-doo would stop nosing my a.r.s.e at the counters and making me steal against my will when I'm to tired to reload the last save point) to the best of my ability. Outside of war no murder and no stealing for me (pirates and dark elves non-withstanding).

I am most likely the only person ever to not advance the main quest line so maybe no one knows. I cannot get any jarl to talk to me about buying a house! I am about to collapse from all the tiny quests I'm doing for people in Riften. Is it that on vanilla no patched Xbox Skyrim you can't buy a home unless you advance the MAIN story line?

Plz help.

Idk if these forums are heavy moderated because I never posted here in detail before but if you don't think you can give me a complete answer without spoilers please feel free to join yahoo and help me out over there where I posted my question: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130911051031AAVOgUL&r=w

Thx in advance!

You arent the only person to *not* do the main quest (unless you are saying you broke it?)

Anyways, do you have the Hearthfire DLC? If not then your only options are the houses like Breezehome (which requires you to kill at least 1 dragon) or Riften, which you say you are having issues with. For the Riften house who exactly did you piss off?

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Honeyside

I've got a few things for you.

1. Great roleplay idea for your first character.

2. No, you're not the only one who doesn't do the MQ. Completing Dragon Rising is necessary if you want to advance the Civil War questline. Other than that, there are no negative consequences of refusing to be the Dragonborn of legend.

3. For all your game guide needs, there's http://uesp.net/wiki/Main_Page. Not that I recommend using guides, it's better to figure out things on your own, but if you ever get stuck it's the most comprehensive source of information about Skyrim.

Hmm... I've never skipped the first dragon fight so never thought of it this way. I'd suggest getting the Hearthfire DLC. None of the minor settlements have MQ tied requirements and I find it much more rewarding to build and furnish your own home from scratch. I'm pretty sure Markarth doesn't require a MQ link. I don't think Riften does either. If you're struggling, take a peep at UESP on steps to get Honeyside (the name of the house in Riften). You're screwed out of Breezehome (Whiterun) without the MQ though you could always take Uthgerd on a *terminal* journey, like a charus den, then just assume ownership of her house. You won't be able to store anything in there that won't end up disappearing after a certain time. There are several shacks, caves, and at least one fort where you could assume ownership of and would be able to store things in without fear of losing them. I don't have the link handy but I'm sure someone on this forum could provide that to you. Lots of cool RP possibilities that way.

About helping 5 people:

In general this means doing quests for them, but it can also be minor things like helping farmers (collecting crops at a farm and then giving / selling it to the farmer). Useful if you don't want to get involved in too many bigger quests until you have a home.

And, also very important, you need to help 5 people in the Hold (the Rift, which is the whole area surrounding Lake Honrich, the lake west of Riften, the capital of the Hold), that means you can help the people in Riften (city), but also in other locations in the Rift Hold. This includes Ivarstead and Shor's Stone and minor settlements like mills or farms in the area between. This gives you additional options to do only minor quests to buy the house and delay other quests.

You also need to complete a specific questline michaelpk already mentioned, the quest starts by talking to

If you want to know the full details and don't care about spoilers (I would not recomment this), or you really get stuck, here are the links:

Without the Hearthfire DLC you cannot purchase a house WITHOUT completing the " Dragon Rising " quest. By completing that quest you meet certain requirements to be able to purchase a player home.

Are you sure? I thought only Breezehome and Hjerim were unavailable.

100%

Unless you complete Dragon Rising you cannot purchase any other player home. If you try and complete say the quests for the Riften home as OP has done without completing Dragon Rising first you can cause a bug which keeps you from getting that home even if you do complete Dragon Rising.

Without Hearthfire it is not possible to get a home without doing some of Skyrims main quest.

Your 50/50 right.

You must become Thane of Whiterun before you can purchase Breezehome or any other vanilla home, which means you must complete Dragon Rising, which is part of the main quest. IF you try and purchase any other vanilla home before you become Thane of Whiterun you cause a bug that prevents you from buying the home. You complete the " favor " quest from each Jarl and receive the reward but later on when you complete Dragon Rising and return to said Jarl to talk about buying a home the dialog will not be there.

I have had a run in with this bug, I tried to buy Proudspire before completing DR, I was never again able to purchase it. Same thing with the home in Riften. Once I completed DR I was able to purchase any of the other homes.

Before or after you installed Hearthfire?

I tried before Hearthfire was released and every house that I tried to purchase became unavailable. Maybe hearthfire changed something?

Since my bad experience I have never tried to purchase a vanilla home without completing DR first to avoid the bug I'm talking about. If I want a home without starting the main quest I simply go after a Hearthfire home. So I'm not too sure if things have changed since hearthfire was released.

I can't seem to find the bug with a google search either, I know I read it on UESPWiki somewhere but I can't seem to find it now

** still tryen to find a link to back me up...**

Ok so I tried to find what I'm talking about and the only result I got was a similar thread in another Skyrim forum, http://skyrimforums.org/threads/trying-to-buy-honeyside-before-completing-dragon-rising.17072/ I know I read it somewhere on UESP but I can't seem to find the right bug list with this particular bug

The OP in the link experienced the very same issue that I did, so I know I'm not crazy

Hearthfire is the way to go. I've just tried it today (yep, I've delayed it for a bit, but so far no housemods have convinced me completely, so I'm going Vanilla, then), and I'm pleasantly surprised....much more detailed than I imagined it.

Now Arinbjorn lives in Heljarchen Hall, pretty much in the same exact place where he was born.

I like the Hearthfire houses more then the vanilla ones, for the most part. The house in Markarth is nice along with Honeyside and Proudspire. But I really like http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Lakeview_Manor the most, even when it's a small shack. the view is spectacular

Although Lakeview seems to be the most famous one -at least mod wise...there are tons of mods for that house-, it's the one I like the less :/ I prefer either Heljarchen Hall or Windstand Manor, although according to the lore of my character (born somewhere in the Pale, and a Stormcloak), Heljarchen is the best for him.

Even if in the future I install some house mod and move him there, that house will remain standing as "lore-wise place".

Windstand is too far out of the way for me, out in the middle of nowhere, Heljarchen is my second choice after Lakeview

I don't focus too much effort in the lore side of things, nice to see that you do though