I've chosen Falk as my home, it is completely built. I have my housecarl (somewhere, idk where she went).

What I am wondering now is who would be the best Steward and what will attract the most random encounters (ex: Children, wife, animals)?

Falkreath has beehives, Hjalmarch has a fish hatchery, and The Pale has a mill. As I understand it, those are the major differences. Other than that, it's all scenery and (in my case) which Jarl you like better. In my case that Jarl of Falkreath was a scum-bag, so I decided I would much rather be the Thane of Jarl Ravencrone, as she is my favorite Jarl. If you want to make your decision on practical reasons, however, see the first sentence.

sheepdog got it pretty spot on. I chose Falkreath purely because I think it has the best scenery, and I also like having the Beehives.

Falkreath's Lakeview Manor has the most beautiful location, and the most deadly location, if you have a high rate of random events, your character might end up struggling to fight off the influx of enemies, and you might lose all your livestock. I thought Windstadt Manor was the next best looking location, although the children never liked it. Heljarchen Hall has snow although it is a bit bleak, it also has the mill, which combined with a kitchen and a crop of wheat can make cooking interesting. If you have a cow you also get a a supply of milk for the kitchen.

For your first house I would recommend Heljarchen Hall, whose land you can purchase from the Jarl in Dawnstar. I usually seem to go for Falkreath though, looks win every time.

Depends on personal taste. Though, if your an alchemist, choose Lakeview manor, it's location in Falkreath is the heaviest in Alchemical ingredients.

Blacksmith? Heljarcen Hall, for its close proximity to Whiterun.

Also, who would you suggest as a housecarl?

You get no choice as to who you have as a housecarl, the Jarl selects that person if you are a thane, and it is the same for each house, same as in the main game. You can select your own steward, if selecting for Lakeview choose a good fighter, although probably choosing a good fighter for any house would be an idea. Braggen has always chosen Vilkas although the second time he seems more interested in slacking off. Aussie chose Calder, she did not have to worry about fighting that much and he was just handy since he was carrying all her stuff when she was setting up. And she wanted to get him out of Hjerim.

I can only recommend on my experience of having bought Falkreath and Morthal properties. Of those 2, Lakeview (Falkreath) has the prettiest scenery. I am working slowly on building my houses in both, fast traveling often to see if enemies spawn. So far, that has not been a problem in either of those locations. Rayya scouts around the perimeter of Lakeview often and although I haven't seen her engage any enemies, I am guessing she takes care of them. Am still working on getting the housecarl for Morthal but so far no enemies have been around there either. Mayhaps this changes when I move my family in?

Moving your family in will more likely get you less attacks, so if you have built the house and furnished it without any trouble you are unlikely to get more than the occasional attack at Lakeview and probably less at the other two houses.

Thanks, aussie! That's encouraging to know.

for your kids heljarcen hall is the best location it gets the least amount of attacks of the 3 houses, the scenery is best at falkreath but since i have all 3 houses I just keep the family at heljarcen and i hang out at falkreath

What would be the best scenario for me to get the most amount of attacks?

falkreath

With family? Without family?

Also, if I choose Vilkas, can I still get missions from him?

Falkreath and Morthal (I think) Have the beehive. But Falkreath is the best land if you do not care for a fish hatchery



And i think Dawnstar has a Fish hatchery, So depends, And falkreath is more hidden then Morthal and Dawnstar.



~BGN

No, only Falkreath has beehives, Morthal has fish hatchery and Dawnstar has a mill.

okay, so who would you guys recommend as a steward? I don't want to use someone that I might use for tasks (such as Vilkas) if he's not going to be able to give me companions tasks while he is my steward.

Attacks are random. There is no "safe" or "safer" house. YMMV

I still need to know which would be the best steward.

i chose lydia for one steward the housecarl from riften as the other steward and the protector of riften i forget her name as the third steward
serena is my loyal companion and aela is my wife then of course the 3 default house carls

So you would say that Lydia is worth being a stewart and Aela being a wife?

Finish all the questlines in the game and do Dawnguard (as a vampire), then install Hearthfire and build Lakeview Manor. You will never have any peace. Lakeview Manor has the most amount of attacks, the ones at Windstadt are a bit glitched and usually all you will get is a dead body or two and the third house only gets a few attacks, most will get none. if you have not really done much in the game you might get hardly any attacks anywhere.

thanks!

I chose Lydia as my steward. Thanks for all the help everyone