2; I like it better than clicking on a placard. At least I give it a try now rather than feeling like it's a waste of my time spending hours clicking and competing against bots or full on groups of a FC to get a house only to either not get it or lose it to someone relocating and being a troll loling at the group who had been standing there for a while.
Just click and leave - tis nice.
I get that you could just try your luck and click for like 10 minutes and then leave and try again later, but that really lowers your chance if you weren't dedicated to get the house. It's far better just to put in a lottery and try your luck imho. If I don't get it, I can try again later - better than trying again later to do the same hellish clicking like before. So much wasted time..
Clicking at the placard really deterred me from trying again, I just gave up. Now I feel like I don't have to give up.

On the other hand, kinda sucks that you can't place your retainer next to the placard if you did get the house to make the bot(s) buy fish for millions now.