Best House To Buy In Oblivion
Susan salvo books. I prefer either Battlehorm Castle or the Wizards Tower, I'm more fond of the Wizards Tower though because it's far more interesting to be in and to interact with regardless of character type. Battlehorn comes with a bunch of NPC's but it's a very one dimentional abode with little of offer aside from loads of storage space and some understrength NPC's that you can have tag along with you. If you only put your time into one I think it should the the Tower but seeing as there is no limit to how many abodes you can have you can get all of them if you put the time in or get the cash through the console.
Oblivion House Prices
DLC wise, all those housed are so specific to character, and to some degree cheapens them.Mages love the tower for the spell altars, but it makes much of goign thru mages guild trivial since you have your easy acesss spell altars. The Vile lair is nice for assasins and vampires, and gives you some more goodies that path, and doesn;t cheapen the sin experience like tower does for mage quests. Battlehorn is nice in that theres the most addition questwise, but I just am not a fan of its location. Out of the DLC, I would say the best is the Thieve's Lair under Anvil.
It becomes one of the few spots in the game you can buy enchanted arrows (actually only spot, its an extreme rarity to find them in stores), something that can be in hard supply otherwise since only a few NPC's even carry them (and those you need to pickpocket if you want them to respawn.)But when it comes down to it all the DLC is about same. I would just go by which character type you like playing as.Mages=TowerThief/Archers= Thieve's LairAssasin's and General Wickedness=Vile LairWarrior and rest= Battlehorn. You don't even really need a house unless you are concerned about immersion.I use the 6 open topped grain sacks in the Imperial City Market District for most of my storage, because they are the most conveniently placed storage containers. They are free and non respawning so they are safe to use for everything but ingredients, which can be taken by the beggar to eat.There are 3 on each side near the shops.The only vanilla houses I ever bother with are the Waterfront House because of its central location and the house in Bravil because it is the closest town to the Shivering Isles.
Rosethorn Hall Oblivion
I often need somewhere to drop my items while exploring the Isles.I also use the house in Skingrad on occasion because of its size and close proximity to the Imperial City. I think it is the most expensive house, but it is also one of the best looking.I don't really like using the houses in Leyawiin or Anvil, or the DLC houses Battlehorn Castle and Deepscorn Hollow because they are so far out of my way.I really hate it when I have to do a quest and it turns night time because I travelled to one of those far houses to drop my items and the NPC I need to talk to is asleep and their house is locked by the time I get there.Frostcrag Spire is okay. I sometimes will use it to store my ingredients because of the alchemy lab. It is a decent house.
It is also a really nice tool sometimes because of the mages guild teleporter it has. I often will use it so I can get to Anvil or Leyawiin so it can get me to a quest NPC before it turns night and the NPC goes to sleep, since the teleporter is instantaneous transportation so no time passes.The House in Dunbarrow Cove is also useful for the fence and has a few NPC that sells unique items. If you plan to be a Thief or just steal items, it is a good idea to unlock the fence here asap so you can sell it and make money quickly.