You're mixing up action with knowledge. It only takes a few seconds to just go inside the house IF you know or suspect there is any reason to do so. OP didn't know about the demolition that SE doesn't provide any notification of. So she was basing it on whether there was time to do actual productive stuff in the house, redesign it or whatever, and whether that's what she wanted to spend her limited time on when she only had a short while to play. People only do the "step in to deactivate the timer" pattern if they know about the timer. That's why the bulk of this thread is about SE's terrible lack of notification.
You keep saying that SE couldn't do anything about it, but SE was the one who failed to notify her first that there even is housing demolition, and then more importantly, that her house was nearing the point when it would be demolished if she didn't enter. If they'd done that, she could have prevented the loss.
OP was interested in getting back to the house when her real life issues cleared up and she had time to enjoy it. She just wasn't spending time there when her time was limited and her attention elsewhere. Temporarily not using a feature doesn't mean you've lost interest in it.
