In my previous life (well, one of them) I was a project manager for a prestigious home builder in P.G. County MD. As a project manager I took start packages and a dirt lots and created neighborhoods. Through the years of doing this one thing always remained constant, Settlements rarely happen on the day and time they are supposed to. While most people who are moving from house to house have weeks between move in/move out it is a different story with condo owners. Many times these individuals are trying to move out of their old location, into the new location and settle all on the same day.
Piece of advice, dont. While you may be dying to move into your new place ASAP it is best to work it out so that you have a few days (a week is better) separation between being out of the old and into the new. On one occasion we were not warned that it was settlement day and someone didnt fax the right piece of paper which delayed the settlement. This meant we had a truck full of items with no home. Luckily it was the last job of the day and we were able to get the items moved the next day, albeit with an unhappy manager (because we did have other moves for that next morning) and a customer with a very large moving bill. While we have not had this issue in a very long time, we have been getting more "going to settlement" moves lately. I would just like to give a heads up to new home buyers to be prepared for delays in closing.

Thanks and have a Happy Thanksgiving!