I notice a number of posters indicate that they have the Hearthfire add-on, and live of one of those houses.

I'm curious if folks are just building the one house to live in, or collect houses for a hobby. I have both extremes - Galen, my Dunmer assassin, has just the one home at Windstad. Fleur has built the set of three, and also owns all the homes she could purchase (no Hjerim because she hasn't taken a side in the Civil War).

Some of the others have done some building for the Smithing practise, and also own Breezehome, or one or more city homes. My latest mage was a bit annoyed that she couldn't have a kitchen and a library on the same house. Others built two houses to get around that issue.

What have you done? For the first question, please vote the first house for the first character, not your current one (unless the answer is the same ).

Several of my characters have built HF houses. Le Chevalier D'Eon and Hrafngoelir had Lakeview, Euryale did the one outside of Morthal (Helajerkin? Hjarlmarch?), and Aja made the one in The Pale.

Each has only built one. Hrafn also eventually got the Raven Rock house as well, because she spent so much time in Solstheim. But that is not a Hearthfire house. So I guess it does not count. She is the only character of mine who has ever had more than one house, vanilla or modded.

The first HF house I ever bought/built was Lakeview. I imagine that is the same with most people. Simply because that is the first that becomes available to characters as they level up. I think you can get it at 7th level or so. You cannot get The Pale house until level 22 or 23, and I forget how high a level you have to be for the Morthal one.

I used to hate that kitchen choice as well. Until I started using Shezrie's kitchen mods. She has a mod for each home that adds a kitchen to the back section of the main hall (behind the fireplace). Now every house I build has a kitchen, without having to build it as an addon.

Aravi only really lives in Lakeview Manor. She might own other houses (I can't remember if she does in her current game or not) but that's home. The others are mostly untouched.

The requirements for all the houses are the same, 5000 gold, and become thane. The "help the people" quests can all be mine ore/pick crops/chop wood, so the only difference is the initial quest for the Jarl. Siddgeir has you kill a bandit, Idgrod has you kill a vampire, and both of those are Ok for level 6. Galen got Windstad Manor fairly early to use as a base for his foray to the Katariah, and way before he went dragon-slaying.

However, you may be right about the difficulty on the Pale one. That has two quests as pre-requisites, and they both need a higher-level character. I'd be surprised if Heljarchen was a first for anyone.

Fleur built the Pale home last, and spends more time at Proudspire than any of them. That's where the kids are, not just hers, but the others they play with. She considered Windhelm and Whiterun, but she noticed that some of the kids in those places are street-urchins, and she'd rather hers were in a city where all the kids are looked after properly (and not Riften-style, either!)

It's worth noting that none of my characters have been offered the other properties, and Lakeview was offered almost immediately upon beginning the game.

True, Siddgeir does prompt you to become his thane, unlike the others. But he's such a model of upright trustworthiness that most of my characters ignored him.

Mikke of Green River built Lakeview first, and we tried it all of the different ways so I could see how the options worked out. Of course she only kept one in her game. She then built the marsh house because dragons kept attacking Lakeview. She ended up building all three houses to please Roggi, since he also complained about the other two houses when she asked how the kids were. Then they stayed in Breezehome because Roggi’s comments about the kids indicated that it was the best place to live.

Most of my characters would not go to such great lengths if their Nord spouses complained that the marsh was cold. Mikke had a LOT to feel guilty about (werewolf, never home, Torvar). Roggi got anything his dialog suggested he might want. Also Hearthfire came out hundreds of hours into her game, so cash and the level 20something kill-the-giant favor quest were not issues. (And Mikke had no problem killing a random giant. Other characters have told Skald to go stuff himself.)

The marsh house has been a good lair for my naughtier characters. It’s remote, and the pond is a great source of river betty. Plus it’s a neighborhood that’s familiar to Dark Brotherhood members. That’s my personal favorite location. Allek and Marcurio lived there with the library, alchemy tower, and greenhouse options.

Jerric, Abiene, Lildereth, and Valdi have all built Lakeview Manor in the same way. Darnand will build it too, when he finally gets his narrow butt out of Winterhold. All of them live there with the other characters as NPCs. So in any of their games, the housing and storage is the same.


EDIT: I use a mod that lets you tell followers including dogs where to live. My Home Is Your Home. The horses all stay there because I use Horse Commands.

Voted one. Only one of my characters has a Hearthfire home, and that's LHM. Other chars of mine have had other homes, some official, some unofficial. Here's a quick list.

Crystal Beth: Proudspire Manor (Solitude home)

Mycharonna the Ice Witch: Anise's Cabin

Skankee Krahk~ho: Embershard Mine

The Mighty Khahkhayre: Pinewatch

There's probably others but I'm not remembering at the moment. I gotta say I was really glad when Hearthfire was released; it meant my characters didn't have to participate in the Main Quest just to get a house. They only have to prove themselves to a local Jarl with a few minor things.

Either Lakeview or Heljarchen. Lakeview because the location is beautiful and surrounded by trees.

Heljarchen Hall because the location is so open and secluded. You can see so far off into the distance and you just feel like you're on your own out there.

Hearthfire is a great DLC. Finally Bethsoft is getting an idea about what their fans want from DLC.