Instead of buying the house, go to visit it, speak to the Jarl of Riften, then decorate it, I bought the house, decorated it fully, visited it and dropped some items there.

I went to the Jarl because that was the next step in my Journal. But there are no dialogue options to make me Thane, or give me a Housecarl. In fact there's no housecarl quarters, just a cobwebby room with hay next to the arcane stuff. I didn't even get the blade the Jarls normally give.

Have I missed something? I don't have a "help the people of the Rift" active quest..

If I haven't missed anything and the quest just got bugged because of me doing it in the wrong sequence, can someone give me the console command to remove the "Speak to the Jarl of Riften" from my active quests list?

Thanks.

player.setstage freeformriftenthane 200

That will complete the quest for you.
Edit: After doing that for myself I received my housecarl, but I got a random enchanted weapon and not the blade of the rift as a reward.

Thanks, but before I try it, did you also get your houscarl's quarters in riften?

Yes, the room in the basemant furnished itself when I got her.

Thanks Sikketh, it worked perfectly!

Heh, I too had been wondering about this. I'm going to have to do this myself.