Is it really possible to sell a house quickly and easily?

As a home owner, with a stable and secure job, I am now earning just enough to purchase a larger property. Although I have been already through the buying process once before, I am finding the new challenge of juggling the sale of my old property along with the purchase of my new dream home all very daunting. I found the house that I want to buy very quickly, but I now seem to be stuck in a common nightmare scenario trying to conclude the sale of my current home before the owners of the house I want to buy lose patience and decide to simply sell to someone else for a quick sale.

Like many sellers in my position, my current house has received a high level of interest from various buyers and several times contracts have been about to exchange, when suddenly it all falls through and the buyer drops out at the last minute. This is causing me many problems and I fear the owner of what I hope will be my new house, may soon put it back onto the open market. Frankly I have had enough of this now.

Whilst wading through all the information that has been provided to me by my Estate Agent, I under took some research of my own and happened upon some alarming statistics regarding exactly how difficult and stressful owning property can be, especially when you decide to move on and sell it. What I have found doesn't exactly fill me with confidence that the financial side of buying of another house and selling my old one is anything near the relatively simple task the Estate Agent promised.

The information I found was the latest research from a property purchasing company, A Quick Sale, which although it is not the sort of thing I normally read, the information seemed pertinent to my current problems. They have revealed that potential the costs from estate agents, legal fees and additional mortgage payments which can be built up while waiting for a house buyer, is on average £13,633.

The research also had the worrying statistic that 59% of people who lost a buyer for their house also lost their dream home as a result. As you could imagine panic alarm bells started ringing. Was I now going to lose my new home because of the actions of potential buyers for my old house?

I am very concerned about selling my house and this research appears to show that I am right to be and that I'm not alone. As soon as realisation dawned that it wasn't just me that was in this predicament, several questions started to form. What have other people done to get out of this situation? How do I sell my house quickly to prevent losing my new home? Does this happen to everyone?

Obviously I don't want to lose money selling my current house and I certainly do not want to lose my next dream property. I have numerous friends who have brought and sold property and they have never seemed to experience anything like this, and I find it very hard to believe that things can be this difficult especially when I'm paying an agent to supposedly take care of all the hassles of making the sale.

When I look back, the purchase of my first home was great. I had arranged a first-time buyer's mortgage and I had no house to sell. When I finally moved into the first house of my own, I felt like I had become a full member of society. The future looked rosy. The dream first home which I bought back then is still in a well kept and attractive state, positioned in a good location and is apparently competitively priced for the current market. Back then there was a high level of competition from other buyers, but I managed to come out on top, and the purchase went through without any real problems. Today however I am becoming angry that although I have achieved a good level of interest, the buyers seem to be taunting me with offers then suddenly pulling out.

As a result of all the difficulties, my feelings towards my current home are rapidly starting to sour, along with my patience. Another of the research statistics which has particular resonance for me in my present state, is that apparently 39% of people stated they wanted a quicker and easier way to sell their home rather than the mess we currently have to deal with, and I can definitely say I'm now one of them.