Not sure if this is the right category for this but whatever. I've done everything for the Jarl and whatnot and still don't have the option to even buy the house in Riften or become thane. Anyone know why? Am I alone in this? :/

its tricky becoming thane sometimes, i became thane in riften and wasn't even trying lol, i just got lucky with the right quests..you need to do the quest with the dark elf lady at the docks...and apart from that, sometimes there are other quests you need to do..my favorite place to live is markarth and i've bought the house twice and its a bit tricky, generally all you need to do is 2 quests but to get the right dialogue, sometimes you need to do other quests helping people...so there's specific quests you need to do, usually just one or two, then sometimes, and it may be random, you need another quest, generaly just a small type of helping someone and then it triggers the dialogue..i have it down pretty good for markarth but not riften.

I've done all of the special quests for Riften that others have told me to do and I'm on the 7th random quest from the steward and I still don't have the option to even buy the house. Sad days :/ My favorite house is the solitude house and markarth but I'm a little OCD about having everything so it's starting to bother me >

Have you found the skooma-addicted Argonian? You can't buy the house without completing that quest chain. The info is http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Honeyside.

Yes...again, I've done all of the special ones. Now on my 10th random one and still nothing.

this is as good of a thread as any... the thane quest is a little strange/buggy... I didn't have the quest requiring me to do it and read in the forums that you still have to do nice things for the people of Riften just like the other thane quests in Skyrim. Do 5 quests in town for the people so that they know you just like in the other keeps and you'll be able to buy the house and then I got the quest to talk to the Jarl who wanted to reward me.

this chain is tied heavily to 1. finding the skooma dealer and then clearing his supplier's den and 2. doing nice things around town

It's sort of appropriate, this Jarl is a waste of space. I'm not shocked that she doesn't follow protocol or follow through on explaining how to become a Thane of her fine city for you. She's really not worth the cloth of her clothes as a leader and needs someone to give her a crash course in court management and making decisions for herself.

lol

also... with or without the skooma dealer quest chain, if you don't do either empire or stormcloak questlines in the MQ civil war chains and still do the dragonborn MQ line, you'll have to decide if you want to give Riften to the Empire... if you do you're rewarded well by the new thane. instant bypass on a lot of the aggro of doing quests and keeping track for yourself because the game isn't doing it for you.

See I must just be having bad luck with everything. For hours now I've been going around the Rift doing every quest I can possibly find. I've finished the civil war quests a LONG time ago but I sided with the stormcloaks. I did this on my last character and had no problems at all. I've done so so many and still nothing. About to give up soon and HOPE they fix it at some point.

"Doing nice things" means completing 5 quests for people around town. The random work quests you do for the jarl's steward don't count.

*edit* Oh, i guess you've done it already... hmm...

Lol, yes. I've done a ton of the ones all around the Rift. JUST MAKES NO SENSE MAN!

The Thane of Riften quest is buggy as all hell. See if this applies to you: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim_talk:I_Done_Got_Thaned%21