At the time I thought the house myself & my fiancee bought took a long time to sort but judging by some of these "horror" stories as first time buyers I think we had it very, very lucky.
Viewed first house in early May, we liked the first house we saw so made an offer, offer not accepted, so up the offer by a few £K to what the seller wants, offer accepted, surveys done, fees paid, solicitors sort out contracts etc etc blah, blah, blah.
Moved in late September the same year (4 month turn around).