Michael H. Yerman, Baltimore condominium developer and real estate agent, dies

Jacques Kelly, Baltimore Sun
·3 min read

Michael H. Yerman, who sold real estate for more than 50 years and developed the Saint James condominium on North Charles Street, died of Parkinson’s disease complications July 2 at his Pikesville home. He was 84.

Born in Baltimore and raised on Oakford Avenue, he was the son of Sophia and Philip Yerman, who both worked in food production. A 1957 graduate of Baltimore City College, he attended the University of Maryland, College Park.

“My father was funny, sarcastic and cared deeply about people,” said William L. “Billy” Yerman. “He could be stubborn. He was an amazing adviser and mentor to my friends.

“He had a very good business sense,” his son said.

He began selling auto insurance and soon owned Admiral Insurance in Heaver Plaza in Lutherville.

He changed careers in 1977 when he opened the real estate firm, the Michael Yerman Co. in Pikesville.

“By the 1980s he was well established and opened an office on West Cold Spring Lane in the area called Alonsoville at the edge of Roland Park,” said his husband, Marc D. Hayes. “He was taking a chance. Jewish real estate brokers did not typically sell homes in this area. He was welcomed.”

After a fire struck the old Buckingham Arms apartment on Charles Street, he purchased the property with the idea of building a condominium. He worked with an architect and a builder and sold the units.

Mr. Yerman named the building the Saint James Condominium for his son James.

“Michael thought condominiums were underrated and the way of the future,” said Mr. Hayes. “He was a visionary but Baltimore was slow to accept that concept.”

Mr. Yerman later handled the conversion of The Elmont, on Park Heights Avenue, into condominiums. He also oversaw development of the the Villages at Homeland and built Ruxton Crossing and Stevenson Crossing.

Mr. Yerman once received a call from Mayor William Donald Schaefer, a Democrat, to help sell a group of new houses behind Calvert Street called the Mount Vernon Mews.

“We were vacationing in Provincetown when Schaefer called to say he needed him for a meeting right away,” said Mr. Hayes. “Michael said, ‘I’m on vacation.’ Schaefer said, ‘There are planes in Provincetown.’ Michael left as soon as he could get a flight out. Michael wound up building the second phase of Mount Vernon Mews and finishing the project.”

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As his firm changed its name to Magill-Yerman, he helped sell apartments in buildings such as Scarlett Place, the Anchorage Tower and the Regency Park Condominiums, among others.

“He did his best work helping families get into houses,” said another son, William. “He worked from the harbor to Roland Park and Pikesville and loved his role of pricing houses then helping new buyers get into them. He was skilled at valuations. He would tell people the truth about what a property was actually worth whether or not the sellers wanted to hear it.”

“Michael could be tough and direct, but he was a softie inside,” said his husband. “He was always fair.”

From 2007 to 2012 he worked alongside his sons in the Strata Group, which included real estate brokers, legal-title operation and mortgage business.

He enjoyed boating and had a second home in Annapolis.

Mr. Yerman received numerous accolades over his career, including one for lifetime achievement from the Maryland Association of Realtors.

Survivors include his business partner and husband of 41 years, Marc D. Hayes; his former wife, Janice Bolten; three sons, William L. “Billy” Yerman, of Hunt Valley, James S. “Jimmy” Yerman and Steven H. Yerman, both of Gaithersburg; a sister, Debra Oppenheim, of New York City; six grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

Services were held July 5 at Sol Levinson & Bros.