When I was looking at houses in Lloyd a couple years ago they almost all had wood basements. It was new to me but I was re-assured they have good success with them. I don't know why it's standard practice there but we were hard pressed to find homes with concrete basements. I'm still skeptical and would prefer concrete, but unless you build a cu$tom house it may be your only option.
If it's built properly with good drainage I'm sure it will be fine. If it doesn't last 100 years I'm not convinced that matters. The rest of the house probably won't either.