Yeah, great value for the price indeed, and as far as lower quality materials are concerned I'm not sure that someone unable to afford a US Strat (no criticism here, I'm not either) is so likely to own an amp that will actually reveal the MIM's limits anyway. The wood is less carefully chosen, but it's far from catastrophic. The single coil pickups are good (I own a MIM Fat Strat and the only pickup I ever felt the need to have changed is the HB), not even sure if they're that much different from those of the "standard" US series. And, if you know how to solder properly (which curiously is not my case

), you can certainly redo the inner mess in no time (well, I actually never inspected the solderings within a US Strat but on the Mexican it certainly didn't look well - even though I didn't notice a real effect on the sound).
Regarding the poor resale value, well... if it matters that much to you, get one used then!?

Nah, actually I don't really think that this kind of questions should matter too much when you choose a guitar, or if you already think about reselling at the very moment you buy it then maybe you should think again about your choice? Well, just my 2 cts on that point anyway...