A chance is still a chance. If you lose again you get your gil back, but your odds of not getting a house are 100% if you don't place a bid.
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While true for personal houses, that's not going to be true of FC houses as in the OP's case. There was very little competition for FC houses the first round. Most FCs got the house they wanted without any competition at all. There are still plenty of open plots in the FC wards, including mediums on most worlds.
The OP's FC will likely have a little bit of competition in the second round because it's a large but nothing close to the scale you state.