> Old homes were overbuilt. Except when they weren't. For example, brick foundations that preceded reinforced concrete haven't held up well. They generally a

> Old homes were overbuilt. Except when they weren't. For example, brick foundations that preceded reinforced concrete haven't held up well. They generally all need to be replaced at great expense. > Old homes are built with old growth wood. This can’t be had today. This wood is incredible and is naturally rot resistant. As you say it can't be had today and there aren't enough old homes in places people want to live to make it matter. > Taken care of it will last many hundreds of years. But the whole point of old growth wood is that you don't need to take care of it as much since it is pretty resilient to getting wet. It's newer wood and manufactured materials that often need more care since they are less resilient. Also, prewar homes use huge amounts of energy for heating - which is a big reason the old growth wood lasted: it was being blasted with heat from the inside the whole winter, so condensation got dried out (the people too). > Plastics. They really came into their own during WW2 and found their way into construction because they work for awhile and are dirt cheap. So we have cheap windows, cheap siding, flooring, There are incredible fiberglass and UPVC windows being made today by companies like Marvin and Schuco. Yes, there has been a history of poor quality manufactured building materials, but some of the most reliable components today contain plastics. > Buy a pre-war home and invest in it. Keep the original windows and restore them. The reality is that people buy homes for location, and the period of the home is a usually a secondary consideration.