Houses (Skyrim)

Houses in Skyrim are buildings in which the player may sleep and safely store items in non-respawning containers. Each major city has a house, of varying size, quality and cost, available for the player to purchase. There is no limit to how many homes the player may own, only a limit on how many houses are available. If you get married, you may allow your spouse to live with you at one of your home(s).

As with any unowned bed, sleeping in a bed in your house provides a temporary (eight-hour) bonus to your experience rate (for every skill), known as the rested effect. However, if the player has Lycanthropy, it is impossible to gain this bonus. You can only purchase homes in Skyrim with the approval of the Jarl of that location.

This video shows the benefits of a home (Hjerim; Windhelm) and a general idea of what they are like inside.

Note: Unlike in Oblivion, you cannot fast travel from inside your house in Skyrim.

(*) You cannot live with your husband/wife here.

''The prices listed above are the initial costs for each house. Some may have upgrades available for purchase that, while not necessary, will cause the houses to cost more. Should one desire to purchase everything that is available, this is an important note.''

Achievements
Buying a house allows you to unlock one :
 * Citizen -- Buy a house
 * Note: Any of the free houses do not give you the Citizen achievement because they are not bought.

Bugs

 * Bug - (Xbox, PS3) Placing items anywhere in a your house freely (ex. tables, dressers, etc.) will cause the items to appear on the floor usually by where you placed the item. (Not including weapon racks, wall mounts, bookshelves, which are placed by activation.) The bug is not a big problem to fuss at all, because you can fix it by putting your item back on to the place you wanted it to be again, and it will (usually) stay in the spot until you move it or an object does.


 * Bug - (Xbox, PS3) In the act of buying a house or purchasing decorations, there is a delay before the steward receives the player's gold. Using this to one's advantage, the player is able to select the option to buy a house/decoration, exit the conversation, rush to a nearby chest, cupboard, etc, and store all their money The player however does have to get to that chest with in a very short amount of time or the steward will still take your money. Doing this will cause the player to receive the 'purchased' house/decoration without spending any money. If you are looking to get a free house and in doing so you mess up and the steward takes your money, fear not because if you simply save your game, you can just load right back to when you had however much money you had.


 * Bug - (Xbox, PS3) Many players have also had a hard time buying the house in Windhelm due to bugs in one of the quest you have to do in order to get the house. The steward of Windhelm will prompt you to but the house but will say that there have been some "unpleasentries" due to a murder in the house. This is where "Blood on Ice" comes into play. To start the quest you will have to go to the grave yard around 11:00 PM and 2:00 AM where there are guards and witnesses standing around a body. However for some odd reason, the quest will not trigger, and there will be no one there. Many suspect that this will be fixed in a later update but untill then we will just have to wait.


 * Bug - (PS3) In the Windhelm house it is possible to glitch on of the mannequins so that even when the armour is taken off, once you re-enter the house it will have dupicate your item and still be on the mannequin.


 * Bug - (Xbox, PC) It is possible to lose the option to purchase Vindrel Hall in Markarth. If the option to purchase appears when speaking to the Jarl or Raerek and is not selected immediately in some cases it will no longer show as a dialogue option.
 * Bug - (Xbox, PS3, PC) - It may be possible to exploit the game to allow you to purchase the Whiterun house 'Breezehome' without really paying a single septim. Talk to the Jarl's steward while he's asleep, standing close enough to his nightstand. When making the transaction and he asks if you're sure you want to buy the house, turn to the nightstand and put your gold inside. Select the positive interaction to purchase the home and you should be given the key without any money being taken from you. When the dialogue has ended, retrieve your money from his nightstand and enjoy your new, quaint home.
 * Bug - (console N/A) - Although Hjerim is listed at 12000 septims, there is a bug that makes it so you won't be charged the entire sum if you do not have it in your inventory. For instance, if you only have 8000 septims on your person, you will only be charged 8000 septims. So it might be a good idea to store your gold somewhere safe (i.e. any currently owned homes in a non-respawning container, so your gold will not disappear) and only sacrifice a small sum, so you get the home for as low a price as possible.