Anyone who simply says I loan money at 18%, that will raise my eyebrow, if they are truly assisting other and using all thier money at 18%, that's fine with me, but if it's simply out of greed due to the fact they can get it out of someone regardless of that persons loan issues, then I vew that as a shark tank.

(a) Except as hereinafter expressly provided, the provisions of this title shall not apply to any of the following classes of securities:...(11) Any security which is a part of an issue offered and sold only to persons resident within a single State or Territory, where the issuer of such security is a person resident and doing business within or, if a corporation, incorporated by and doing business within, such State or Territory"Further, in my state (same as OP) as long as the D-T or note is not sliced and diced, the securities transaction are Exempt Transactions per text in Exempt Transactions in the North Carolina Securities Act:Except as otherwise provided in this Chapter, the following transactions are exempted from G.S. 78A-24 and G.S. 78A-49(d):...(5) Any transaction in a bond or other evidence of indebtedness secured by a lien or security interest in real or personal property, or by an agreement for the sale of real estate or chattels, if the entire security interest or agreement, together with all the bonds or other evidences of indebtedness secured thereby, is offered and sold as a unit.If they are selling other people's real estate or putting buyers and sellers together, then the state's Real Estate commission may raise an eyebrow.

I'm not sure why anyone would raise an eyebrow to thisIt would look odd to see the payment going directly to the workers, but I cant imagine this is legally incorrect.

Pet owners spend thousands of dollars on vet bills, obedience school, treats, clothes, toys, etc. for their pets, so requiring a pet deposit has never raised an eyebrow.

If you have a property listed for $400,000 and the offer is $300,000 it will raise an eyebrow somewhere.

"Eyebrow & eyelashes" on the front!

Yours telling you how the journal entries work when you ask for tax advice, and telling you to include return of principal on a 1099 is a little eyebrow raising. 

I don’t use a property manager  so that may make me biased but there are a few that raise eyebrows for me.  

Just my luck, I would be describing a potential pie-in-the-sky idea that raises eyebrows and merits a bit of extra attention or scrutiny.Through some more googling, finding a somewhat relevant blog post from 2016, and cold calling this afternoon, I got in touch with an attorney who does zoning and real estate, and he was able to help me make sense of the code and how it applies to my situation. 

I want to refi out of my current FHA into a conventional so I can use an FHA loan again.Do banks raise an eyebrow at this kind of behavior?