from offer to contract?

Are you being represented by an attorney? If not, might be a good idea to hire one and let him/her represent your interests. Representing yourself in a real estate closing might not be the easiest endeavor.

To receive a preliminary contract? Few days max.

If it's more than 3 business days, I'd get suspicious. These are boilerplate contracts and there isn't much to change except the buyer's name, the price, and the dates.

Do you have a broker representing you? If so, that person should be following up with the listing broker to find out what's going on.

all too many threads here on this exact subject. best thing to do is assume that this deal is gone and keep looking.

Are the brokers and lawyers communicating? If so, less to worry. If it is a high end property needing some special clauses or sellers are not available to review the contract, it can take longer. However, they need to tell you the cause for delay.

>all too many threads here on this exact subject. best thing to do is assume that this deal is gone and keep looking.

columbiacounty: always look at the dark side.

We found out (the hard way) that any delay will probably not work out in your favor. We placed a fair bid, was told it was accepted and after 10 days found out that even though the sellers' attorney deposited our 10% down check, that the place was still being marketed and sold for $5K more with so much as the courtesy of asking us for a counter offer. This eventually resulted in our buying a larger place with a second bathroom on the same block and had the added bonus of purchasing a condo thereby avoiding the entire experience (read : horror) of dealing with a co-op board.