As planned, my spouse and I picked up the Small plot next to out Large plot in The Goblet, using an FC composed entirely of Lalas. So our Sidekick Lounge is now up, on our own private "island," and we'll be decorating it and the main Mansion in the same themes -- starting with the new Sukiya-zukuri "walls."
As has been the case for all of our recent acquisitions, there were no competing bids.
Anyone who complains they can't get a house just isn't trying or is too picky, there are plenty of mediums and lots of smalls still available.
Note that the Sukiya-zukuri "walls" are actually complete exteriors: you can't change the roof, the walls around the plot, or the placard, and you can't add awnings. The only option you have to "customize" your exterior is choosing the tile color (and of course adding outdoor furnishings). Still, both the mansion and cottage forms look great, totally worth it in our opinion.
So at this point my spouse and I have 5 FC houses (2 Large, 1 Medium, 2 Small) and 4 private houses (all Small) across four different worlds on two data centers, all but one acquired since the lottery system was put in place. This should provide us plenty of decorating fun at least until 7.0 drops, but we could still pickup another FC house easily enough if we wanted too. :) Right now, though, we have too much else we want to do.
We've also just started running four submarines and an airship, we'll see how that goes. At the very least, it will get us some "crafted X thousand items" achievements.