How long till contract signing

Hello everyone,
I am afraid to hope but I 'think' we just sold our house! We priced it well and its a lovely place so I am sincerely hoping it goes through. All looks good from the buyers end - their solicitor has been on the blower this morning to the auctioneer and deposit already handed over (we only accepted the offer on Saturday).
I am pregnant with baby no.3 at the moment and really want to get settled somewhere and get the nightmare move behind us ASAP! We are planning to rent for a year so it won't be a problem finding somewhere. Just wondering how long it will take until contract signing stage? Our title deeds are already with our solicitor so no delay there. They are going to have their loan approval letter from the bank available in the morning.....
Thanks in advance

Its how long is a piece of string , unfortunately!

In the ideal world, contracts would issue this week, purchasers would have their loan approval and their life cover all sorted within a week to ten days after that, the "legals" would be easy and everything could be tied up/wrapped up with 4 weeks.

The reality , in my experience, is that Vendors and Purchasers are still massively naive/overly optimistic about the rigours of getting loan approval, complying with the terms, extracting the loan cheque from the lender, etc.,etc.

The best thing to do is to set a realistic time frame of 8 /10 weeks to complete and ask that contracts be signed and exchanged within 2/3 weeks.

After that, cross your fingers, say your prayers and don't count on anything until the day the sale proceeds are banked.

mf

Thanks for the reply mf1!

Hmmmm if it went to 12 weeks I'd be within a week of my due date!

They are eager to move in (staying with in-laws at the mo) and we are eager to move out and get settled so hopefully things might run a bit quicker than that. Alot of it is out of our hands I suppose.....I hear you about not counting our chickens though before funds are in the bank. I have a good feeling though!