If you know or suspect a new villager will be moving in, either because you invited one or you're below nine villagers or something like that, you log in with a new save file and run around your town looking for their plot. As long as you don't save as the new character or log in with an already existing character, you can keep resetting until you get a villager you want (if it's a random move-in) or their plot is in a spot that you like. Once you like the way everything is, you continue the process of setting up the new character by having Nook place their house and getting your TPC from Isabelle so the game saves. Then, you can delete the new character and log in with your existing characters.
I pretty much never time travel. I do keep my time set permanently 3 hours behind my real time so that I don't have to worry about shops closing before I get a chance to play. I mostly play at night so if I played real time, I'd never get to do anything. I will also occasionally move the time forwards or backwards so that I can catch a particular bug or fish or so that I don't miss an event.
But I don't skip days or jump forward or backwards at all. I play each day as it is in real life. The game is just more fun for me that way and I don't have to worry about making a mistake and losing my villagers.