BTW FAA now aggressively purges N-Reg airplanes not renewed since 2010. You can lose your N-number even after it's painted on your plane.
And you can get it back, if you respond to the FAA:
After the registration expiration date the Registry will send a notice to the owner to tell them when the N-number assignment is scheduled for cancellation. If the owner wishes to keep the N-number they must, before the cancelation takes place, send a request to the Registry asking that the aircraft's registration be cancelled and the N-number be reserved in the owner's name, accompanied by the $10.00 N-number reservation fee. If the N-number is canceled without being reserved, it will not be available for re-assignment or reservation for the next five years.
Not sure what the big deal is here...the FAA will send notices 6 months and 2 months before it expires, and one after it does with info on how to reinstate it, then if it isn't renewed/reinstated they wait *five years* before it becomes available again.
Sounds to me like they're bending over backward to give owners the opportunity to renew their N-number before it goes back in the pool.