In 2018, a family-run developer started selling pre-construction townhouses for $400,000. Three years later, they gave buyers a shocking ultimatum: pay $100,000 more or lose your home. The inside story of a real estate nightmare.

It was the autumn of 2018, and Todd Arkell had a lot on his mind. There were the usual concerns about his four kids, helping them get through school, launch careers and find their places in the world. But lately his worries had taken on a more specific shape: Would they be priced out of Ontario’s skyrocketing property market?

His two oldest children, both in their late 20s at the time, had managed to buy homes just before prices shot up. But his eldest son’s family already felt cramped, and they couldn’t afford to buy a bigger place. His youngest two were still in high school. By the time they started looking for property, surely home ownership would be even further out of reach.

Then Arkell found what seemed like a solution: Urban North, a proposed community of 850 townhome units in Barrie, to be built by a family-run company called Pace Developments. On the project’s website, he saw renderings of upscale open-concept homes with waterfall kitchen islands, pendant lighting and wide-plank flooring. The price tag was enticing: a 1,200-square-foot pre-construction unit was listed for just over $400,000, less than comparable properties he’d seen on the market. He could secure it with a deposit of $25,000, broken into an initial payment of $1,000 followed by 12 consecutive monthly instalments of $2,000. It all seemed doable on his salary as a sales director.

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