My friend bought a house in LB a long while ago. He saved for ages to buy his house and ended up having to borrow some gil from me for the permit. At the moment, his garden is empty, his exterior is the default (not even coloured) and inside there are just two NPCs and a table with a quest item lying on top of it. I am 100% certain he is not a house flipper because that's not really a thing on our server and even if it was he doesn't speak the language well enough to arrange it.

He loves his house. But he doesn't play all that much - not everyone is hardcore! When he does play, he doesn't want to grind gil and items, he just wants to sit in his weird empty front room and go for walks outside. He'll gradually improve the house and add some proper fixtures; he has plenty of ideas, just not so much free time. With Shirogane, maybe some people subscribed just to grab the house of their dreams then went dormant again to deal with real life for a while?

(I don't have a personal house as I don't want one, but if there was some kind of housing activity police force they'd probably burst into tears the moment they saw my FC's mansion. It's a slippery slope; first activity is required, then it has to be the right kind of activity...?)