Cheating

Most people playing this game (including myself) are impatient and if you have the means to speed things up then most do it. House farming is a way to get the ball rolling, it's not cheating just quicker than relying on characters tasks. Once your town is bigger with more characters it isn't as necessary but it does serve a purpose especially in the early days.

No one house farms because it looks pretty (unless you are after that shanty town look). However Jail breaking and ending up with loads of negative donuts etc is cheating in my book.

:D