Bonnie McIlvaine has lived in three homes in San Diego County, all on the very same spot. The first was an unheated concrete-block house she bought in 1973 for $32,000. A newly divorced schoolteacher, Ms. McIlvaine wanted a break from urban living. She found herself in a small, hilly town with stretches of undeveloped brushland and woodland, not far from the coastal city of Carlsbad, Calif., where she worked. As she cast her eyes lovingly on the frumpy little building — or, more accurately, on the half acre it sat on — her real estate agent told her, “We can do much better; we’re going to look at tract houses.”But all Ms. McIlvaine could think of was that she had always wanted a horse, and maybe that could happen here.

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Persons: Bonnie McIlvaine, McIlvaine Locations: San Diego County, Carlsbad, Calif