Sussex County (Livingston, Lodi, Newton: houses, purchase, good schools)

[blueskies07]

We are looking to move to North Jersey.I have seen a lot of positive posts about living in Sussex County. Can anyone tell me some of the more family friendly towns in this county with good schools?

Are there any areas that have a downtown or small local businesses?
Thank you.

[doc1]

Byram Twp and Sparta for starters.

[Songbird42]

Most of Sussex County is made up of small towns, no real industry.....mostly
a bedroom community with everyone going South or NYC for jobs.
There are no downtowns in most of the local towns. Taxes are high with very little services provided. I can tell you that the schools in Vernon Twp.
are very good, nice churches, a family town. Homes go for $250,000 and up
to 1.4 Million. Beautiful mountains, lots of lakes, state park at High Point
want more country try Branchville, the farm and horse show is held there every Aug. County sit is Newton, NJ........Lafayette is a nice little town
Franklin on Rt. 23..........has plenty of shopping, homes are much older.

Negatives........long commutes, no public transportation. If you like to drive
this is the place for you. Taxes

Good luck on your search

[41Willys]

Sussex county is the country side of Jersey. Warren is too but Sussex big time!
Tranquility is nice (Green Township) as is Allmuchy. Sussex is REAL rural though. Alot of cow towns.

[sherry07]

i live in vernon twp...schools are good. people are very picky here....if they payed for something they want to make sure neighbors did too....much like the "jones" but more like stepford. however, there are good people here ! what it is here, many people who cant afford to purchase in bergan county come up here, they complain about everything that sussex county doesnt have...because bergan has much shopping, jobs, etc. in the next town over, which is sussex (town not county) many large homes have been built, and they attend vernon schools, over crowd our schools, and like i said complain about everything because they think they are better than everyone.
there are no jobs here unless for professionals, doctors, etc. they say its 30 min to kinnelon (nearest working town) but they dont tell you that the traffic on rt 23 is more like a hour and a half....sitting...sitting....
taxes are high. lowest i know of is 5k. most are more in the 7k range....and going up !
however, its a very clean town...in my opinion....most keep their houses well maintained, and although keep a "watchfull" eye on things, dont usually bother anyone. family oriented, but not social.
if you work, you want to head west, or north, against traffic.
franklin and sussex are older and somewhat rundown. most other towns are usually upscale communities.
mountains and views are nice. roads are kept pretty good in winter with plowing, etc.
nearest jobs of any kind from vernon are: milford, pa goshen, ny middletown, ny sparta, nj newton, nj stroudsburg pa
other than that, anything from kinnelon, nj and south of kinnelon

[Calico696]

Originally Posted by 41Willys

Sussex county is the country side of Jersey. Warren is too but Sussex big time!
Tranquility is nice (Green Township) as is Allmuchy. Sussex is REAL rural though. Alot of cow towns.

Allamuchy is nice but it is Warren County not Sussex.

[marye711]

ahem you 2 wake up this thread is a year old!!!

[Calico696]

Originally Posted by marye711

ahem you 2 wake up this thread is a year old!!!

LOL Mary, didn't even notice. Sherry bumped it up

[marye711]

I know she did, I think its funny.....

[Songbird42]

Originally Posted by sherry07

i live in vernon twp...schools are good. people are very picky here....if they payed for something they want to make sure neighbors did too....much like the "jones" but more like stepford. however, there are good people here ! what it is here, many people who cant afford to purchase in bergan county come up here, they complain about everything that sussex county doesnt have...because bergan has much shopping, jobs, etc. in the next town over, which is sussex (town not county) many large homes have been built, and they attend vernon schools, over crowd our schools, and like i said complain about everything because they think they are better than everyone.
there are no jobs here unless for professionals, doctors, etc. they say its 30 min to kinnelon (nearest working town) but they dont tell you that the traffic on rt 23 is more like a hour and a half....sitting...sitting....
taxes are high. lowest i know of is 5k. most are more in the 7k range....and going up !
however, its a very clean town...in my opinion....most keep their houses well maintained, and although keep a "watchfull" eye on things, dont usually bother anyone. family oriented, but not social.
if you work, you want to head west, or north, against traffic.
franklin and sussex are older and somewhat rundown. most other towns are usually upscale communities.
mountains and views are nice. roads are kept pretty good in winter with plowing, etc.
nearest jobs of any kind from vernon are: milford, pa goshen, ny middletown, ny sparta, nj newton, nj stroudsburg pa
other than that, anything from kinnelon, nj and south of kinnelon

.
.................................................. .................................................. ...
Soooo nothing has really changed in Vernon in nearly 30+ years, it was the same back in the 60's when I moved there, actually, my lake community was considered the the higher class, with custom build homes/lake.....my neighbors were a riot, the stories I could tell, many have been and still are lifelong friends. Vernon is also a very political town, you don't want to be on the wrong political ticket, that could be a major mistake. My family ran several businesses in town, and if you were "in" everything was fine, but if you were considered an "outsider" well, good luck.

Vernon has some very good schools, my granddaughters excel, they have riding lessons/go bowling/dance.....a great place to raise a family, I raised three there......my oldest has made her home there, but with no local jobs/industry.....she travels to Livingston, NJ and many nights gets in after 7PM and if there's traffic or an accident on 287 well, she might make it home before the girls go to bed.

Ha LOL Sherry, I gotta laugh about your statement about Bergen Cty, many years ago, my best friend, moved up from Lodi, she couldn't stand Vernon, back she'd go everyday, saying there's nothing here but cows, back and forth she'd go, complain about everything, no sidewalks, no lights, where's the mall........fast forward many years, she's still in Vernon, will b\put anyone in their place if they say a bad word about the area, she loves the area and condemns where she came from......time spent in Sussex Cty will change anyone.

I have fond memories of my time in Vernon/Glenwood, loved the area, had great neighbors and raised my family there. BTW my daughters taxes are over $7,000 and they just reassessed her property.

PS.........I see this thread is old, but I love talking about Sussex Cty, my heart will always be there.

Songbird42