so, so far the ideal condition to get the house faster is:

1)you have good reputation and financial record
2)Your seller have good record and nice to deal with
3)Your lawyer is the same lawyer as your seller
4)Same bank as seller for home finance.
5)Bank's lawyer do the job right and fast.
6)Your house is free hold and have a good location/high market value.
7)No problem with current tenant.

anything left?

Actually point no. 3 is very dangerous
- Document could be processed faster.
- Who's interest should the lawyer defend or take care off?
- Is the lawyer professional enough to be "just" without bias?

It will be a risk buyer & seller have to take.

yes no.3 is dangerous. make sure that if you want this, the seller agrees to go to a lawyer of your choice, and you don't go to the seller's lawyer.

no. 4 - this will always depend on the rate. and a point to note, your seller might get a waiver on his penalty if you take from his bank, so you might want to negotiate with him to share the waiver.

no. 6 - high market value and good location wouldn't make the transaction go faster dude.

another point - you have to make all the payments on time. if the lawyer asks you to pay anything, make sure you pay within a few days. better to ask your lawyer for an estimate of when the relevant payments need to be made.

Technically, if the buyer and seller have the "same" lawyer, the lawyer is actually the buyer's lawyer and should be looking out for buyer's interest. He/she should advise the seller that he is entitled to get a separate lawyer and some lawyers even get the seller to sign an acknowledgment that he understands that right and chooses to waive it. Most sellers waive it because it's much cheaper to just "tumpang" the buyer's lawyer whose role is only as witness to the seller's signature. It's not possible to have the "same" lawyer when there are two parties involved as common sense will tell you there will be a conflict of interest if anything were to happen.

point taken..
as this method can only "safe" to be used if you know the seller well i think..
but well, technically it still dangerous eh..hmmm
dangerous game i play here..

i am in the process of waiting for my keys and it is driving me crazy....I have to be the third party between my lawyer and the seller's lawyer (to find out what's happening and to ensure my lawyer is doing the job). I will be entering into my 3rd month of signing the loan agreement, but it was only stamped two weeks ago because bank required further documentation from developer....mine is subsale, still under financing by the seller, master title....

I'm also the one using the same lawyer. I'm 2nd hand buyer, due to the lawyer fee discount, lawyer insist to handle the loan document as well. So end up, buyer lawyer, seller lawyer and even my bank loan lawyer also handle by one lawyer.

The problem come, then. I got my key within 3 months, with start paying installement & etc. but lastly my lawyer said, Developer need a consent, which we haven't applied. Everyone keep saying, consent should be approved before bank release money, ya, but my case all handle by same lawyer, so....

Not sure is lucky or unlucky, lucky because i can get the key earlier (without waiting for consent to approve)

i think you are abit lucky in the sense that you can get access to the property.....

i am so stressed out...and i am going to be roofless soon; except if i pay the seller rental that i can stay there.....that will be the worst case