Long story short, I can't buy the Falkreath plot like many others because of a bug and don't want to start over. I became Thane of Falkreath, completed the DB quest long ago to kill Jarl Siddgeir's housecarl, Helvard. I did this silently and quietly without being noticed. Due to the bug, it took away my thane title and of course can't gain his favor ever again. I have not done any Civil war quests and wanted to stay neutral on that. I hate the Imperials and I don't like Ulfric.

What I would like to know if anyone has been in the same situation but then replaced the Jarl of Falkreath through the Civil war quest line and been able to purchase the plot. Since I'm already a friend of Dengeir, hypothetically I should be in his favor to purchase the plot. It's a bit to play through and wanted to know in advance before I consider taking that course of action.

I've read of people doing the PC method but I don't have that option.

I'm in your exact situation however I sided with the imperials during the civil war. If switching out the Jarl would fix the problem, I would at least try it out. Otherwise, I have tried every other solution except for the PC transfer and have come to a stalemate.

Nope unless you wanna reload from a pre-darkbrotherhood save (the issue is caused because in the brotherhood you kill his housecarl or steward or something)

I have about 10 save files and I cycle through them as I save. I no longer have a save file from back then, nor would I want to play all that content over. This really svcks. Maybe I'll get used to living in the shadow of Solitude.

I loaded an old character. They had done the DB quest and killed Helvard (his body is still on the bed) and started the civil war quest line siding with the stormcloaks. I remember playing up to liberating Falkreath. The Jarl and steward were replaced and I had no problem purchasing the Falkreath plot. Even right when I entered town, the courier came up and gave me the letter for land in Falkreath. The sad part is that between all three available plots, Hjaamarch has been my favorite.

So hypothetically, yes, if you replace the Jarl in Falkreath through the civil war line, it's possible to fix the bug on the xbox.

Just doing the civil war quest as a stormcloak should get rid of the problem, Dengeir might give you a quest to do before letting you have the land, he will in order to make you Thane, not sure how much in the good books you have to be to get the land.

Another solution, if you really want the house, is transferring your save to the PC, fixing the dialogue and transferring it back. Here's a http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1409072-farkearth-is-broken/page__view__findpost__p__21502788. Like I said though, it takes quite a lot of effort, but I can confirm that it fixed it for 4 players so far.

I gave in since my ability to purchase a house in Markarth is bugged as well, so I started the Civil war quest line and sided with the Stormcloaks.

It is confirmed that if you bugged out by killing the Jarl's housecarl through the Dark Brotherhood quest, you can fix it if you replace the Jarl. I purchased my plot of land AND got my housecarl AND was regranted Thane of Falkreath.

If you had sided with the Imperials, then there is probably no hope otherwise to fix on the Xbox.

There is no bug here, the game is behaving as it should. And just siding with the imperials is not going to cause any problems. Even being an imperial and killing the housecarl is not going to cause everyone a problem.

It's a known bug, many people have reported not being able to purchase the Falkreath plot after doing the Dark Brotherhood quest to kill the housecarl. You will fall out of the Jarl's favor even if you killed the housecarl in secret. I WAS Thane of Falkreath, even had the blade to prove it but was unable to purchase the plot. I even committed a crime and saw that my Thanehood was gone.

Replacing the Jarl and the Steward will fix the problem. Otherwise PC players can change easily change the Jarl's favor through the console.

Edit: If you're talking about Markarth, it's a known bug also. If you decline purchasing the house when the dialogue pops up, the game will bug out and it will never be offered again. It even shows in my quest log that I still need to purchase a house. Also by replacing the Jarl and Steward, it can be corrected. Otherwise PC players can easily fix it through the console.

Those with the problem fell out of favour by killing the housecarl and not leaving any quests they could do to gain favour back, and being imperials not being able to replace the Jarl. That is not a bug, that is a consequence of the players actions in the game. Most of those doing the moaning are not even in that situation.

No it is a bug, it would make perfect sense for someone who has openly killed the Housecarl and lost favor. However do to a coding error Helvards death, regardless of the manner seems to lead to an immediate favor drop. Besides that fact, I mean if you are talking consequences, I have a friend who has slain most of Falkreath and is still able to purchase the house, how is that not consequences?
On the original topic the only work around I've seen involves save transferrance between pc and 360 however this still doesn't allow the Carl to spawn.

I had a similar problem. The only difference was that i wasn't thane to begin with though. I did complete the quest where you kill the stewardness helvard and I had the exact same problem where i could not complete his favors and purchase the land. That was until i came across this post that i found in another thread:

Note that the starting quest for the Jarl to obtain a drink is a "radiant" quest that cannot be started if the Dragonborn is already on one of the following quests:

• Getting the book The Mirror for captain Aldis in Solitude
  
• Getting a Mammoth Tusk for Ysolda in Whiterun
  
• Getting the book Song of the Alchemists for Lami in Morthal
  
• Getting the book Night falls on Sentinel for Rustleif in Dawnstar
  
• Getting an Amulet of Arkay for Torbjorn Shatter-Shield in Windhelm

You CANNOT become Thane if one of these quests are currently active. You must complete any and all of these quests in order to get the Jarl to give you the radiant quest to begin getting land. Once I finished all of these quests, I was given the right quests from the Jarl to purchase land. And it only took 12 hours to figure it out...

Since you said you were already thane, this might not apply to you.

I have Dengeir as the Jarl but it still won't let me buy land. I must have done something to piss him off too, but I can't think of what.

You are not trying to buy land from the Jarl, you buy land from the the Jarls steward. If there is no option to buy land from the steward, you need to do a quest to get it to come up, or complete a quest already in your journal. Ask around, does the Jarl or any one else have something your character can do? Is there any quests already in the journal that look like the usual fetch this or kill that quest.

Sounds like yet another wonderful reason to join the TRUE sons of Skyrim.

It's a lot of work around if you want the Falkreath plot and not start over. I bit the bullet and started the war. I highly doubt that Beth will ever fix killing the housecarl in secret bug, it's been around for so long and they never bothered.

Building a DLC around that bug is just a shame on Beth's part.

I highly thought about the PC console fix but I already completed Dawnguard and fully built Windstad Manor.