Sussex County? (Wayne, Rahway, West Milford: houses, property taxes, live in)

[boogs61]

My husband & I are more than likely moving very shortly to NJ. We would like to have a rural aspect to our lives that we haven't had in the past. A large lot with room for a garden, trees, privacy, etc... It's looking like Sussex County is a good choice. We want to stay around the $350k mark for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath home.

How is the commute (I would be commuting to Wayne)? Transit (any train routes from Sussex?) Any towns that are recommended. I don't mind driving 30 min for major shopping, but would like the town to have a grocery store, couple of restaurants, etc...

I hear Franklin is not so great! Any advice would be appreciated. How is the area right across the NY border? We are from the west coast, so this area is completely unfamiliar to us!

[findinghope]

if i am not mistaken, the drive from sussex to wayne is an hour--on a good day. if you are working in wayne, you might as well shop there as it is a mall mecca.
if you want to try somewhere a little closer to wayne, but still rural and also right on the border on NYS (tuxedo NY), you may want to look into wanaque. your commute would be like 20 minutes, and you can get a decent home there for your pricerange.

[wileynj]

You may want to check out areas like West Milford, Oakridge, Rockaway Twp. along Green Pond Road. All nice areas and the commute is a little closer to Wayne.

[Songbird42]

Across the border is Warwick NY............pricey and the property taxes are HIGH.....commuting from Sussex Cty is not fun, especially on Route 23, on any given Friday nite it can take the patience of a saint going North especially around the S turns. Winters can be hard for commuting. There is NO train service at all. Plenty of shopping along Route 23. I talked with my daughter today and Vernon is being reassessed for property taxes in the next few months, she's holding her breathe, she's over $7,000 now.

Good luck on your search........I'm very partial to Vernon, I raised my family there, my daugther and family are still there and they love it, except for the property taxes, and perhaps one day they too may have to move because of them.

[dancemomnj]

I live in Stanhope, the first town in Sussex County next to Morris County. It takes me a minimum of 30 minutes to get to wayne with no traffic.

[ottomobeale]

I live in Ogdensburg.

GENERAL observations in random order as I think of stuff.
Further north and west is less dollars and more commute.
Further north and west is more black bears. Bears are lots of fun to have around. <-sarcasm. Not particularly aggressive but they love your garbage and shooing away a 400 lbs critter is an experience even if its non aggressive. Mama bears with cubs are no fun.
Further west or northwest gets you closer to E Stroudsburg or Milford for their Super Walmarts where my wife and I do a trip for groceries when the list gets long. 45 mins drive saves us about a third on groceries. NJ is union heaven and Super Walmarts are unwelcome competition to the expensive grocery stores so there are none. Rumor is Franklin is pushing to get one. We shall see.
Sparta is nice and includes everything from smalltown to semi rural. Some say parts of Sparta are snobby. Some houses on hilltops have crazy good views.
Lake Mohawk is very nice and has a boardwalk.
For the Southern / SE part of Sussex the closer mall is Rockaway Townsquare area. Decent mall though over run with mallrats Fri /Sat nights. NICE Target. Decent Walmart. Crappy Home Depot with awful customer service. Nice Branch Brook for rec stuff. Mall has Sears, Macys, Lord & Taylor and JCP. The commons area food is edible but the variety sucks.
There is a VERY nice Lowes in Mt Olive.
There is good shopping in the Butler area along Rt 23. NICE Home Depot and Lowes.
There are some very very nice state parks.
Lake Hopatcong is nice and there are waterfront and water view homes there... at a price.
White Meadow Lake in Morris Co might also be what you are looking for.
Sussex co cable is Service Electric. So so for cable but the cust service is local too and that is nice.
Phone is Embarq. Unlimited domestic LD is high cost and their cust service is awful at best on a good day when you are extremely lucky. I use Vonage. They are “eh”
Franklin is safe its just working class. Best grocery store is there. Shoprite though their produce is bad. We go to Weis which has higher prices but the produce is quite good.
I have yet to find really good pizza or Chinese food, and yes I have looked and tried multiple places.
I guess we need your house budget to get better ideas.
I did work with a realtor I liked. You can have his name if you want. He is not me and I get nothing for the recommendation.

[wileynj]

Originally Posted by dancemomnj

I live in Stanhope, the first town in Sussex County next to Morris County. It takes me a minimum of 30 minutes to get to wayne with no traffic.

I'm surprised I don't see more people asking about Stanhope, Netcong, Byram areas - inexpensive and close to Rt. 80 for commuting. Nice areas as well.

[Alex07860]

to the OP, We've lived in CA, OR, MT and sussex county is a very beautiful area as far as nature, but it's nowhere as beautiful as the pacific northwest, that been said, Sussex county is rural yet it has IMO some of the best biking,hiking trails, lakes and all around nice people in NJ, you may try Fredon, Andover Twp, Freylinghausen in Warren County which is also another nice area, the further NW you go, the more rural it gets, if you don't mind the commute, I live in Newton and it takes me 40 minutes to get to exit 53 on route 80 (that's w/ leaving at 5:30 am) We have local shops as Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, Shoprite and Weis, and the Rockaway Mall is about 20 to 30 minutes away.

[wileynj]

boogs - this may be a hike for work but you might want to consider it! A completely renovated home by me on 8 plus acres! for under 300K! It also has a nice large pond on the property...add a dock, a few boats. We are about 5 to 6 mins. off of Rt. 80. It's in Frelinghuysen Twp. Warren County. Hackettstown, Blairstown and Newton - all little towns with major shopping areas are all within 10 mins. from here. Hackettstown has a bus station and train station..not sure if they go to wayne though? Might be worth a look?

[darkstarpa]

Originally Posted by Alex07860

to the OP, We've lived in CA, OR, MT and sussex county is a very beautiful area as far as nature, but it's nowhere as beautiful as the pacific northwest, that been said, Sussex county is rural yet it has IMO some of the best biking,hiking trails, lakes and all around nice people in NJ, you may try Fredon, Andover Twp, Freylinghausen in Warren County which is also another nice area, the further NW you go, the more rural it gets, if you don't mind the commute, I live in Newton and it takes me 40 minutes to get to exit 53 on route 80 (that's w/ leaving at 5:30 am) We have local shops as Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, Shoprite and Weis, and the Rockaway Mall is about 20 to 30 minutes away.

I live in Newton and commute to Rahyway Every day. I leave around 6:30-7:00 and typically get to Rahway around 8:00- 8:30 AM. I 80 his always hit or miss. Typically stop and go with traffic until the 287 split.

I personally would not live anywhere else in the NYC metro area. Great area with less people and more of community feel in the local towns.