I managed to snatch an house on Christmas day, and I'm still here writing in agreement. What we had to go through was horrible, nobody should have to spend 14 hours straight staring at a monitor waiting for the moment an house will disappear, hoping to be faster than the other people camping for the same reason, for what is essentially a fluff feature.
What makes it worse is that I roamed Mist before and after Christmas and I saw pretty much the same thing: neglected houses, small and medium plots with barely a table and a chair in them, while there's so many people who would love to have a chance at decorating a place to call their home, but can't.

The system is flawed. The ward idea is nice, I really like having a neighborhood, but it doesn't work. If you can't make a system that can accommodate everybody either change it or don't implement it until it's ready to support the demand.