Most American housing is 2x4 garden sheds where if you stomp a bit harder the floorboards are gonna dislodge and you'll literally see the mud beneath your house. Also, most people in California can't afford to buy a house, let alone something up to current building codes (which are ridiculously lenient compared to Europe). So yeah, "nice" probably just means something that wasn't built in 1970. Imagine they said "liveable" if it works better for you.