Unreinforced masonry (brick) foundation

[Irina Goriatcheva]

My partner and I are looking to purchase a residence (a TIC which is another cup of worms) two story unit in San Francisco. It's a great price but it's on an unreinforced masonry (brick foundation). We'll find out more details during our inspection on Monday as well as an estimate for the foundation reinforcement. But my question is, how common is unreinforced masonry in SF and have any of you had experience there? This is a victorian house which we love so we might have to take the good with the bad if we want a victorian. The house is not directly on (but about 4 blocks away from) a seismic liquefaction zone. Has anyone else had any experience with unreinforced masonry, and how did it turn out?