I have buyers under contract. Two got under contract in February and one got under contract in March. None of them will be closing in April. ("Under contract" is when the buyer and seller have accepted each others' offers, counteroffers, and terms of the contract. A "closing" is when the buyer and seller get together and sign lots of paperwork. At the end of the closing, the title of the property has been transferred from the seller to the buyer.)
None of these deals are simple. One is a HUD property that needs a 203K loan to fix the plumbing and other parts of the house. These deals can take 60-90 days. One is a short sale property with 2 lien holders that need to decide how much money is acceptable for each lien holder to lose. These deals can stretch until the buyer gives up or the property goes into foreclosure. One is a property that Fannie Mae put on the market for sale, but doesn't officially have the title yet. These deals are dependent on who actually has the title to the property.
These 3 are good examples of the real estate market these days. When there is a simple transaction between a seller and buyer, and the house has been occupied (so that you know the utilities all work), and the seller has the title, and the buyer is paying cash or can get a good loan, the time from being under contract to closing can have a length of 3-6 weeks. When there is a complicated transaction between a seller and buyer, and the house may or may not have been winterized properly (so that you don't know if the utilities work), or a bank or the government has title to the property, or the buyer has more and more papers and tasks to provide before getting loan approval, the time from being under contract to closing can stretch out for several months.
I'm hoping that all 3 of these deals go through to closings because these people want these properties and want to make them good owner-occupied homes.
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