I cant' decide between the 2 houses... i already have all my stuff in markarth but i kinda want to switch to windhelm because it's bigger and i can put more stuff on display.... which do you guys perfer from the 2?

Well, since my Windhelm house never got cleaned up, I don't go there. Plus, it seems to be the farthest from any Fast Travel Marker, where the Markarth house is close to the entrance of the city.

But, if my Windhelm house was cleaned up, it would be a tough choice.

Truth is while Markarth is the most beautiful city in Skyrim (IMO) I just couldn't live there considering a huge chunk of them are cannibals also not to mention the city's more corrupt than Riften.

The Windhelm house has the misfortune of being in Windhelm, and pretty much every other place in Skyrim is a place I'd rather be than Windhelm. There is absolutely nothing about the town I like. It's a pity that Windhelm didn't collapse into the sea instead of Winterhold.

What's wrong with Windhelm?

This. I have no use for it. I DO use the market area on occasion, but that's it. HORRIBLE place.

Why?

It's gloomy, dirty, ugly, and depressing. And yes, that's all just personal opinion. I YOU like the place, fine. Enjoy.

Windhelm. Hjerim just seems to be flat out better as far as storage/displays/book cases go, and it has a cool secret room. Both cities are pretty ugly, but I hate Markarth more. Personally I own all the houses but I never even use them. Delphine's old Blade HQ is pretty much the best "home" in the game.

I'm just glad I'm on pc - so I can get cool player-house mods. I honestly didn't like ANY of the in-game houses. Though I don't know about Hjerim since I wouldn't live in Windhelm for any amount of money.

[And actually, I should backtrack a bit to say that Breezehome is nice - with a mod for an enchanting table. But I don't do the MQ any more, which makes getting Breezehome problematic, hence the mods....]

Yeah I wish I had gotten this game for PC. Personally I don't like houses for....houses, if you know what I mean. All I want is just a barebones workshop with tons of storage, a bunch of crafting facilities, and maybe perhaps some shops nearby. I don't get why a game like Skyrim with its rugged atmosphere didn't design any homes built for efficiency.

All the houses are just filled with glam and dressing. I hate going into the houses and trying to avoid knocking all the loose stuff over.

QFT. I've found Ranger Ridge (the player-house mod) to be much "lighter" on the excess glam/dressing than most of the in-game houses. Mostly though, if something in there goes flying or winds up on the floor, it gets grabbed and sold.

Windhelm is clean for me?

They all svck and have horrible container placements in them. What I've realized after all my crappy house hunting is that the Whiterun's house still has a decent setup. The only thing missing is the enchant table, waahhh cry me a river, do your enchanting in Dragonsreach.
In theory Windhelm's home is supposed to be so freaking awesome since it's damn near impossible to obtain due to glitches. Unfortunately not all your wall hangings will stay (randomly), you get a couple closets and a heaping pile of...SACKS. Yeah, great! I can make really good use of all these sacks. It's so easy to remember where everything is. And the Housecarl's a moron. Oh, and there aren't any containers near the enchant/alchy tables. Cuz that would have been a good idea.

Markarth... it's still an inconvenient jog up some huge stairs, and the containers still don't feel right. Plus, the city's kinda depressing, being all stone and whatnot. Kinda seems like these homes were more fit for NPC's and not for what a player might want.

It's your call, I'll be moving out of Windhelm soon.

Cant stand markarth, I hate that city more then any other major one, i have some sort hate towards all that is dwermer and of all them traps

Markarth is such a beautiful city. There's a crumbling magnificence to it that just isn't matched by anywhere else in Skyrim. Also if Windhelm isn't being cleaned up there are pretty solid technical reasons to choose Markarth (don't know if that's true as my character's live in Winterhold, Markarth, or Whiterun.

-Starcrunch

Hjerim is very close if you fast travel to the Palace of the Kings map marker. I've never used the Markarth house but I am absolutely in love with Hjerim. My mage character has forsaken living in the Arch-Mage quarters and instead is rocking out in Windhelm - the house is large but not excessively so like Proudspire Manor, and has the largest number of bookshelves, weapon racks, and mannequins. It also looks much nicer inside imo, and as a mage, I love the cryptic 'secret' room for enchanting / alchemy!

I've only seen Hjerim during "That bloody quest", so I can't really comment on it. But I do Like the Markarth House.

I really, really hope the DLC comes with a house that makes sense. None are user friendly.

I agree with you, excent for Breezehome, I like Whiterun and the people there, the town is small but everything is centralized, very convinent compare to other town. The house style is easy and homie (if you know what I mean), it's not protentious like Markarth.

Yes, it's a shame that it does not have an enchanting table, I wonder what gives the designers this idea.

God only knows - maybe they thought since it was a "starter home" it didn't deserve an enchanting table.

It's still my favorite of the bunch, though, especially since I got a mod that adds some more storage items and the enchanter to it. It has the best location of all the player ownable homes, it's close to the front gate, and the complete smithing set-up right next door is a huge plus.

The house in Riften is a close second, but it doesn't have a convenient smelter nearby, and Riften is tucked way off into a remote and inconvenient corner of the map.

I completely agree with the post above about Windhelm, and I'd add Markarth as well. They're both just dark, dirty and depressing.

Proudspire Manor just pisses me off. Come on, I spent almost 40,000 gold to buy this place and all of its upgrades; how damned hard would it have been to code a couple of knapsacks and/or satchels right next to the alchemy lab and the enchanter, instead of making me store my things in barrels in another room which may reset after a certain number of days go by?

Bethesda just does a crappy job with player-owned homes in general. The house in Megaton (Fallout 3) was a total dump with lousy storage options. The one in Tenpenny Tower was a bit nicer, but it also had no storage and you had to go through a zillion loading screens just to get inside. Same with the Lucky 38 casino suite in New Vegas.

You'd think they'd know how to design a decent, convenient, pleasant-to-use player home by now.

Of those 2: Markarth mainly because I usu get the Windhelm one so late in the game I'm already camped out and settled in by them. Plus, in my 2nd game I married Muiri so I didn't want to displace her. <3

Edit: Also, I've heard that the Windhelm house is buggy - weapons disappearing from plaques or something like that.

Now I loved the Megaton 'house' (Love Machine upgrade, of course ) - I kept all of my clothes in one cabiniet and all of my weapons in another downstairs. I got the Nuka-Cola machine to keep the Nuka-Colas in. I kept all the food in a container off to the right of the living room (with your back to the door). I put all of my drugs in one of the desks upstairs and all the non-drugs (construction supplies and extra books) in the same room in a dresser (can't remember the exact containers).

It does have it's nice spots, dockside is rather peaceful and serene, not to mention Shaeevra. Her sanguine attitude raises the temperatiure in that city by at least five degrees. And the dunmer drinking club does have a sleazy charm.

Oh yeah, the Love Machine theme - the giant lighted blow-up dolls going at it on the ceiling cracked me up every time I came home.

I ended up modding it really lightly to add just a few more containers and a few decent pieces of furniture. Plus a bathroom - I was getting real tired of running out in the middle of the night to squat by the bomb to do my business. It wasn't too bad when I finished with it.

Fallout 3 was my very first Bethesda game, and I have some great memories from playing it. I've still got a character that has lots of stuff to do in it - one of these days I'm going to have to take her out for another stroll through the wastes.

Mine too. I finished it with a dude shooter-type. I may go back and do a chick stealth type, but the stealth in that game doesn't seem as effective as in Skyrim.

Hjerim is an ugly house, but it has kind of a retro vibe about it, like the inside of a Daggerfall house. It's those low ceilings and all that wood.

My character likes the house in Markarth. It's surprisingly homey despite all the stone. I even like my neighbors, the conversations in the market are hilarious.