Is getting bank financing on vacant building a thing?

[Adam Craig]

I am a long time residential investor transitioning to commercial real estate. I purchased 3 office/retail buildings in the past 2 years that were vacant or nearly vacant and turned them around with such good success, I may never buy a single family home again.

I finance the acquisition + rehab with my private lenders (I offer 10% interest) then refinance with my commercial lender which is a small bank.

I was recently a guest on a commercial real estate podcast and after hearing about my experience, the host said I need to get away from private money at 10% because I should be able to find a small bank to finance the acquisition even if vacant closer to 4%.

The 2 commercial bank lenders I often use did not seem interested until the building had some stability so I figured vacant buildings could not get bank financing off the rip.

The host of this podcast said he does it often I just need to find the right bank.

I plan to make a lot of phone calls this week to commercial lenders but are other investors getting bank financing in these situations?