Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-92.235.113.220-20130224201310/@comment-24.253.8.98-20130224221832

Are you Thane in any of those holds? Falkreath, Morthal, or Dawnstar? You don't actually need the note though, you can just go to the Jarl's quarters in the hold and ask about buying a house there. Of course you still have to be named Thane in order to get the option to build a house.