It's a question that a lot more people are asking this year. The number of foreclosures in America has climbed for eight months straight as of October, and evictions also appear to be on the rise, though this number is harder to track. It's not about laziness – many of the people who face losing their homes are employed and just struggling to keep their heads above water.

The way foreclosure or eviction happens to people is so easy, it's scary.

Foreclosure can happen to nearly anyone.

According to a report on CBS News, most foreclosures are for one simple reason: the homeowner loses all or part of their income.

Roughly 94% of mortgage defaults occur after a homeowner loses income to extenuating circumstances, according to The Urban Institute, citing data from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Todd Teta, chief product and technology officer at ATTOM, a real estate data company, says we're about to face another problem that could end in a new rash of foreclosures. People with variable interest rates are about to see their payments go up.

A high-interest-rate environment can be particularly challenging for homeowners with variable-rate loans, which reset at certain intervals in part based on market conditions. That means a homeowner might see a major jump in their monthly mortgage payment if their reset occurs when interest rates are elevated.

More such loans are now hitting their reset periods, Teta noted, a trend he expects to continue. "While there has been a small dip in interest rates, they remain significantly higher than just a few years ago, so borrowers with upcoming resets are still likely to see sizable payment increases."

You are supposed to receive notice that your mortgage is falling into default, but more and more people are saying that they are getting very little notice to vacate their homes – sometimes only a few days.