Is buying a house really this difficult, or is it just me?

[mojiberry]

We've been looking to buy a house for 18 months now. Quite set on location because husband is very hard to please and refused do move to an area even slightly further it than our current one.
Found a house 6 months ago, it had it's own flaws but we are happy to overlook them because the area is right. We are first time buyers and there was no chain.
Sellers were going to move into another property they owned but was rented out. We knew the risks with tenants I suppose but took their word for it that their tenant was looking and will move out soon.
6 months later tenant hasn't moved out because she apparently can't afford to rent in the city anymore. Sellers still saying they might be able to complete next month and don't know if they will go for formal eviction process, but now they have just gone unresponsive.
We've been waiting for them because we had no alternatives, but this one clearly isn't happening right?
Had offer accepted on alternative property this week. A bit of digging has shown that other property was earlier listed 3 times in past 3 years and owner didn't sell. After our 6 month purchase process going nowhere, I'm terrified of trusting the seller of the other house to go through with it too, given that this is their 4th listing at varying prices in 3 years.
How do people even successfully buy houses?! Right now it's feeling like I'm going to get stuck in the same cycle of being misled once again.
Please tell me buying a house isn't just an elusive dream!

As someone who hadn't sold for 30-yrs it came as a shock what the market is currently like. Now, having sold 2-properties in 8-months (mine & late parents) I consider myself a veteran.
It is a seller's market (I am talking genuine sellers, not people who do it on a whim and then pull out) and you can generally choose from multiple offers so being first to offer or even offering the most does not always get you the house.

I never thought I would say it (certainly 18-months ago) but in comparison, buying a new build was a lot easier. Yes there were stressful times and they make you jump through hoops (it can also be longer, 11-months in our case) but they don't threaten to pull out, increase the price, take half the fittings etc.

I think it's really hard at the moment - even though it's a seller's market, we were reluctant to bid on a property where we considered the vendor was not ready to move or seemed difficult (we wanted to move but not badly enough to put up with awkward people) - so passed up on a couple on that basis. We exchanged last week - our vendors are an absolute dream.