In my experience the greatest delay in a resale purchase was the office of the closing attorney. They evidently had one person whose primary job it was to handle all the resale paperwork. If she was out sick, on vacation, or taking a long weekend, nothing would get done. Unfortunately there is little that one can do to keep things happening in a timely fashion. Eventually, things got done. I was told numerous times that "she has all the paperwork and it will go out early next" and nothing would occur for two weeks. It is a good idea to keep in email contact with the real estate agent several times a week so they will stay on top of the office of the closing attorney.