CASPER — A local real estate broker’s poking fun at the presidential race has been getting a lot of laughs, led to a couple of sales and generated a lot of politically charged text messages.
Chad Lummus, who leads Casper’s Coldwell Banker The Legacy Group franchise and The Lummus Real Estate Team, believes there could be a new wave of response after Tuesday’s debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
It’s a simple joke, over the smiling faces of the Republican and Democratic front-runners is “Moving to CANADA!?” in giant letters. Underneath that in smaller letters is, “We Can Sell Your Home!”
The insinuation is that no matter who wins — Trump or Harris — people are going to be so disillusioned they want to move out of the United States. And Lummus is happy to help make that happen.
For much of the summer the billboard along Caper’s busy CY Avenue featured Trump and President Joe Biden. But now that Biden’s out of the race and Harris is in, it’s been updated.
“At the first debate with Biden on the billboard, it had been up for a little while and it actually went viral on its own,” Lummus said. “I didn’t do anything, but people were taking pictures and sharing it right after the debate.”
He expects it’ll create a similar buzz after Tuesday’s much-anticipated debate.
Lummus, who has had his company for nine years, said he likes to “think outside of the box,” and prior his “moving to Canada” campaign, always had a standard real estate billboard, which he thought was “boring.”
When he proposed a political message around the threats people make to leave the country because of the presidential results, his sales rep at first didn’t believe he was serious.
But the company helped him design it.
“I said go ahead and put it up and he said something like, ‘Let the chaos begin,’” Lummus said. “It went up and that first day I was getting a ton of text messages from friends and clients and other real estate agents, with messages like, ‘Dude, that’s awesome.’”
This billboard at the interseciton of CY and Cascade avenues in Casper is getting more attention as the presidential election season heats up — and since it switched out Biden's photo for Kamala Harris. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
This billboard at the interseciton of CY and Cascade avenues in Casper is getting more attention as the presidential election season heats up — and since it switched out Biden's photo for Kamala Harris. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
This billboard at the interseciton of CY and Cascade avenues in Casper is getting more attention as the presidential election season heats up — and since it switched out Biden's photo for Kamala Harris. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
This billboard at the interseciton of CY and Cascade avenues in Casper is getting more attention as the presidential election season heats up — and since it switched out Biden's photo for Kamala Harris. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
Politically Neutral
Lummus believes everyone who sees the billboard understands it’s political satire and is “very neutral.” It doesn’t take sides and assumes that no matter the outcome, some people are going to be so fed up they just want out of America.
He said people have thanked him for “having fun with it all.”
While he did not specifically intend the billboard to drive sales and instead just create a buzz for his business, it has resulted in a couple of sales. Those have already more than covered the cost of the advertising.
When it came time to change for the new quarter, he did not hesitate to keep the political theme.
“Hopefully, it puts a smile on people’s face,” he said.
While billboards are old school, Lummus said with social media today it is getting harder for those in the “ocean” of Casper real estate agents to stand out. He thinks billboards and postcards are helping differentiate his team.
As for after the election, Lummus said he is already thinking about the next message.
“Maybe whoever is elected I can put their photo up and say, ‘Are you still planning on moving?’” he said.
Has he ever sold a house to anyone who has moved to Canada?
“No,” he said. “In fact, from what I understand, Canada is not accepting any new residents right now from the United States.”
Contact Dale Killingbeck at dale@cowboystatedaily.com
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
