Since I'm still new to FFXIV, perhaps I'm not understanding why it's not possible for a person to just walk up and buy a house if they see an empty plot. If it were that way, would it not mean that even if gold were exchanged for the plot, the seller would have no control over someone just walking up and purchasing the plot if it's available - so it wouldn't be something that any buyer would do? Thus, there wouldn't be flipping because there won't be people willing to risk giving their gil to someone when they wouldn't have a guarantee of getting the plot. Perhaps I'm just naive.

Barring just being able to purchase a plot outright, I do support the lottery system, but only if it collects a certain number of people's entries and is within a certain time frame if the limit isn't reached. As an example, if a plot were to come open, it would accept the first _X_ people's entries who try to buy the house, or it would only stay available to accept entries for 12 hours - whichever comes first. That way, people who are actively trying for homes won't have to sit there for days praying for RNG to bless them, and those who get to it early will have a better chance at getting a try because the entry limit may not have been reached yet . (And they won't have to wait forever to find out if they won or not if they do get an entry.)

The number of entries to buy each housing plot could be determined as a percentage of the world population so that there is an equal chance for everyone on every world.

Only characters with the correct amount of gil on them to purchase the home can enter. The winners and losers could be notified by mail - or if that's too difficult to implement - the placard would show the winner's name. A 12-hour timer for entering, and then another 12 for being notified, would allow for people to keep trying for a home if they didn't win without having to wait for too long. (I'd say that a 24-hour window each should be the longest that should be considered because then it would be 2 days total.)

The winner would have 12 or 24 hours from the time of winning to complete the transaction. If they don't complete it in time, then the plot would be available again for another round. Just my suggestion.