by Cori Hilsgen
Todd Theisen and his wife, Sarah Theisen, recently created a new business venture, “Future Equities,” which involves buying foreclosed homes, refurbishing them and selling them contract-for-deed to give people with poor credit a chance to own their own homes.
One of the goals of Future Equities is to give people a second chance. It’s for people who don’t have the means nor credit history or who’ve made mistakes in the past but are truly interested in taking responsibility and want to own their own home.
The Theisens, who live in St. Joseph Township, established Future Equities in January 2017 and have sold several houses.
Theisen, 51, said he believes in investing in local people and local equities.
He gave an example of a recent homeowner who had expressed it well when he said he wanted to own his own home because he wanted to have a yard and shop to work on projects. The homeowner said he was currently going home to his apartment to sit in his recliner, watch television and snack, but he wanted something more.
Theisen said that was a person who wanted to be productive and create a lifestyle through home ownership.
The Theisens lost a 6,000 square-foot shed three years ago to a fire. They thought they had fairly good coverage for two of the three businesses housed in that shed space, but their premium allowed 10 percent of the insured value of their home to be covered.
Instead of the $250,000 needed to rebuild the shed, they received an insurance payout of $29,800 that was to be released when the building was rebuilt.
Theisen convinced the insurance company to allow the payment to be applied directly to their mortgage balance.
That motivated the Theisens to pay off all the family’s debt, and they were able to pay their home off after two years.
Instead of rebuilding the shed, the Theisens decided to use the credit to invest in real estate to help with their future plans.
Theisen has been a landlord for 25 years and had also sold a few homes on contract-for-deed in the past.
“The objective for this newly created company, Future Equities, was multifaceted,” Theisen said. “I wanted an investment vehicle I was directly involved with, that I could exercise my talents, interests and creativity. I wanted to use local money to help local people. It’s exciting for me to give other people life opportunities they may not have had otherwise, and this is one thing I can do.”
Theisen bought his first house in 1987 when he was 22 years old and rented rooms to friends. By 1989, he had purchased three more student-rental homes near St. Cloud State University.
In 1993, the Theisens purchased the “Ramsey House” on Sixth Avenue N. in St. Cloud and lived there for 10 years. The house had rental units in it, and Theisen said he learned much about remodeling from that house.
The Ramsey House influenced Theisen’s decision to buy a whole square block of homes in St. Cloud.
He verbally negotiated on every property to purchase various houses within a block of homes. By 2002, he had acquired half of that square block and managed those properties until 2012.
The Theisens moved to their current St. Joseph Township home in 2003.
Theisen grew up in Pleasant Acres in St. Joseph, attended Kennedy for kindergarten and All Saints Academy for first-sixth grades.
After graduating from Apollo High School, he studied carpentry at St. Cloud Technical and Community College.
Theisen worked as a carpenter in the Twin Cities before he returned to the area to find work in St. Cloud so he could better manage the four rental properties he owned.
He said he never found another job, but he found work. A friend asked him to make a vanity, and that led to painting a house, which led to a variety of other jobs.
He started his business “TMT Home Improvements” in 1990. In 1992, he general-contracted the construction of two new homes. One of the homes was for his parents in Waite Park. In that home, he did most everything including framing, roofing, siding, drywall, trim and his first hardwood floor with flooring he had salvaged.
After the home was completed, he held an open-house for his material suppliers to view the newly built home.
He was soon hired by one of the local lumber yards and floor-covering stores to install their laminate and engineered wood flooring.
By 1998, he made a commitment to take his company in a new direction with a focus on solid-strip hardwood flooring.
In 2000, he and Sarah changed the company name to “TMT Integrity Flooring LLC” and adopted the slogan “The Floorguy.”
He joined the National Wood Flooring Association and traveled around the country taking classes and attending its annual expo.
In 2001, he was invited by the technical director for the National Wood Flooring Association to teach a class in Minneapolis. From there, he bought a recreational vehicle and traveled several times each year with his family, as he taught hardwood flooring classes through the NWFA throughout the United States. He implemented the techniques he was able to practice at the schools into his daily work as a floor guy.
“I met and worked with many of the best hardwood-floor people from the country and learned a lot in a short time-frame,” Theisen said.
Theisen said he is mostly self-taught through observation, lots of questioning, reading, audio tapes and audio books and online research.
He said he is living life through his vocation and exercising his ability to think freely and creatively in an ever-increasingly regulated world.
Since 2009, Theisen has also been a full-time “rejuvenative,” or sustainable, farmer raising grass-fed beef, pastured poultry, turkey and pigs.
“Rejuvenative farming, which is a very strong passion of mine, became another motivation for the creation of Future Equities, with hopes of providing the future funding needed to help expand the farm’s infrastructure,” Theisen said.
The couple has four children – three sons and a daughter.
“I’ve been blessed to create a life that has involved my wife and four children at every turn,” Theisen said. “Each of our children has learned to run every sander for TMT, just about any power tool; to care for and maintain investment properties; mow lawns; shovel snow; repair and remodel as needed; mend, fix and create structures on the farm; care for the animals; plant a garden; appreciate nature to the highest degree; and give reverence to God’s creation and circle of life.”