There's some stuff I want to steal in a room which respawns after a certain amount of time. Can I stand in the room and wait til it respawns or do I need to reenter and effectively "reload" the room?

You would probably have to leave the room and then wait for it to reload.

What are you trying to steal that respawns?

All the leather, leather strips, iron and steel ingots that are in the basemant of Balimund's house/shop.

Things only respawn when youre not in the cell.
When you enter the cell the timer resets, so you must stay away for longer than the respawn time.

Oh, gotcha, okay. Good to know. Thanks!

Isn't the respawn time like 2 days for that stuff?

Let's see... *clicks T*

Edit: Nope!

It takes 10 game days, in an unmodded version of Skyrim, for Balimund's shop to respawn.

Strange. I tried waiting 10 days and the room did not replenish. I waited outside the shop... and waited an extra day or two to make sure I didn't miscount.

I believe it's 30 days.

Nah, it's 10 days afterall but here's the thing. I waited 10 days in the Riften markets and checked and no respawn. Tried again, no respawn. Went to Whiterun and waited 10 days, returned to Riften and the items had respawned. Tried that again by waiting 10 days in Whiterun and the items respawned again. So then I tried waiting 10 days in the Inn in Riften... and when I checked after 10 days of waiting in the inn, no respawn.

So I guess I need to be outside the city.

Respawns occur every 72 hours, 10 days or 30 days. It all depends on what is respawning.

The other thing to remember, is the respawn timer sets the time where the game can reset the cell, but it does not have to. So, a non cleared area can respawn in 10 days, but it might be 15 days before it really happens. It just won't happen in 9 days. And, you have to be away from the cell.

As to Merchants, it is usually 72 hours for their inventory. As for their cells, not sure.

If it is an Interior cell, you can just be somewhere else. The Riften Market is part of the entire town, so that is why you need to be away from Riften. Although, you could wait inside Honeyside for 10 days and it should reset the Riften Market.

It was inside Honeyside that Balimund's basemant did not reset. I just tried it JUST outside the Riften gate, though, and that did the trick after 10 days. 72 hours did not respawn the items. Thanks for the info!

Weird that you have to be away from the city for another interior cell in that city to be reset.