hey all, quick 2 questions -

buying a house - if I buy a house do I have to buy the upgrade immediately, or can i buy the house and purchase the upgrade later on?

Also, why is it that the value of items drop significantly when selling? For example, say I have an axe that says its value is 100 but when I go to sell it, I am offered 30?
Do I need to progress in speech craft tp be able to get full value for items or a certain shop that gives me better offers?

And unlike Oblivion you were able to haggle with merchants for a price, it doesn't seem to be the case for Skyrim, am I correct in this observation?

Thanks!

You can buy decorations at any time.
The sell prices are the item value.
By raising your Speech skill the values will raise closer to their true value.
You can take perks if you want that allow you a better deal.
There is no Barter system built in.

Thanks!

The sell prices are the item value - why does the game give you a different value when you view it on your belongings? Say, dragon bones are valued at 500 or something like that but when you go to feel them, much much lower than what the game just valued them at.. are you saying it's all in the level of speech craft?

As for upgrading, decorations yes, but what about the alchemy la, etc.? That would be part of the upgrade, no?

The value displayed in your inventory on the item is the "appraised value" if you will or market value. Only with the appropriate Speech skill level will you be able to get that price for the item. Haggling is transparent now and works automatically off of skill level, which means you always get the best deal you can get.

Yes the decorations include the alchemy lab etc. Whatever options the Jarl's assistant tells you he can put in your house can be done at any time. This also goes with improvements to Guild Halls such as the Dark Brotherhood.

Great! Thanks for your answers!!

Guild Halls - that actually brings me to another question - I have a "room" at the Winterhold College, can I use that room to store my items without them disappearing on me and also upgrade the room? Is that considered a guild hall?

I just did the College of Winterhold quest. Now I have an awesome free apartment with an alchemy table and an enchanting table. There's no convenient forge so when I want to blacksmith I just get my follower to take everything out of my blacksmithing barrel and I head over to whiterun.

I do not understand the advantage of buying houses in this game.

Just so you know, as a minimum when you buy a house it is furnished witha bed and 1 chest to store stuff, so the upgrades can be purchased later if at all, while still having safe storage

That's is a good question, what IS the advantage then to buying a house? I mean can you safely store your items in your room at the College without them disappearing?

The value that is noted with the item is its actual value, but since all merchants are scumbags, they often buy for a third of the value, and sell for three times the value. Leveling Speechcraft improves those prices slightly, but the impact is not big enough to justify investing perks in the Speechcraft skill.

Thanks! Makes more sense now...

Yes. I've been doing it for about 20 levels now.

Thanks, Cory!

The cell will reset, you will lose everything. On my character, the winterhold area has reset at least 8 times.

what exactly is the cell? the space?

What are you talking about? What cell?

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Arch-Mage%27s_Quarters

I'm on Xbox and I've had absolutely zero trouble with using it as my house.