I think maybe you're bar is a bit low for your comparison. I just recently moved into a old house in Sweden(ca 1845) and apart from some things being a bit dated, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the house!
That's not too say I haven't got a lot of work to do, I'm adding some extra insulation to keep heating costs down, redoing the kitchen cause I don't like the way it was done previously(from the looks of it, someone redid the kitchen probably in the 1980s or so, and with poor taste at that!), And of course, those negligent builders back in the 19th century didn't think to install fiber, so I have to fix that situation...
But hey, I've got 3 layers of brick that's been standing for nearly 180 years! The foundation is made from natural stone(is that the correct term in English?) and there isn't a crack in it!
Your comparison with cheap Asian houses is unfair since they probably don't have the money to do a better job, but Americans can't very well use that excuse!
San Francisco does not have buildings over 100 years old because the city was destroyed by an earthquake 100 years ago. Your brick house also would have been destroyed by that earthquake.
The whole west coast is full of old brick houses; which were either knocked down, or have been retrofitted and reinforced. Because brick structures are inherently unstable in earthquakes.
That's not too say I haven't got a lot of work to do, I'm adding some extra insulation to keep heating costs down, redoing the kitchen cause I don't like the way it was done previously(from the looks of it, someone redid the kitchen probably in the 1980s or so, and with poor taste at that!), And of course, those negligent builders back in the 19th century didn't think to install fiber, so I have to fix that situation...
But hey, I've got 3 layers of brick that's been standing for nearly 180 years! The foundation is made from natural stone(is that the correct term in English?) and there isn't a crack in it!
Your comparison with cheap Asian houses is unfair since they probably don't have the money to do a better job, but Americans can't very well use that excuse!