MyTurnAtBat, your idea sounds like a recipe for disaster. If we each married the first “half-decent person” who came along, most of us would be either divorced or stuck in unhappy marriages blaming ourselves for a shidduch that was doomed from the start.
Why do you think singles date for so long? Is it possible, chas ve’shalom, that every single person they ever went out with was a terrible person with severe character flaws, who no one in their right mind would want to marry? Of course not. Making shidduchim is about finding the right fit– not just a match based on age and hashkafa, but a true personality match. That is exactly what is so hard to find, and exactly what you are suggesting we chuck out the window.