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Hello! My husband, and our 2 sons (7 mo. & almost 3 yrs.), and myself currently live in Jersey City, NJ in an apartment in my husband's recently deceased grandmother's house. We decided to move here (from West New York, NJ and before that I grew up in Edgwater, NJ) because at the time my husband's family was looking for someone to keep an eye on my husband's grandmother and also because we saw it as an excellent opportunity for us to save up some money (since it's family the rent was rediculously cheap) to one day buy a house.
So like I stated earlier my husband's grandmother is no longer with us and although we have not yet been told that we have to move (we will most likely stay here for as long as they'll have us being that the rent is so cheap) I have taken the initiative into looking into areas to move to for whenever the time comes that they do end up selling the house.
I do not wish to put my children into Jersey City's school system. So whether they find a buyer or not we would like to be out of Jersey City and into a more rural area by next summer. Ex. Northwest Passaic County, Northeast Sussex County, or Northwest Morris County. This will give us a year to get used to the area before our oldest begins Kindergarten.
We have close family that live in Landing, NJ which is within Roxbury Township and close friends that live in Upper Greenwood Lake, NJ which is within West Milford Township. We would like to find an affordable family-friendly area to rent from that is in somewheres in between those two towns. I mapquested driving directions between the two places we would like to be between and the two longest stretches of road we would travel on to get from one place to the other is UNION VALLEY RD/CR-513 which runs through West Milford Township and OAK RIDGE RD/CR-699 which I believe runs through Jefferson Township. So we would like to live not too far off of either one of those two roads. I am not familiar with any of the towns along that route so I am not even sure whether our wishes are even a possibility or not. For all I know the towns along that route don't rent at all or if renting is an option, might be too expensive for us.
I might also mention now that my husband works in Pearl River, NY so he will have to commute there Monday through Friday. He does get reimbursed for gas costs though and he has told me in the past that he would be willing to travel about an hour each way if it was a nice enough area for our children. There are several routes he could take to get to Pearl River depending on where we end up settling.
Some NJ towns that seem to be in the areas that we would consider moving to are: Upper Greenwood Lake, NJ; Hewitt; West Milford; Lakeside; Awosting; Ringwood; Erskine Lakes; Erskine; Wanaque; Haskell; Oakland; Pompton Plains; Pequanock; Bloomingdale; Butler; Fayson Lakes; Taylortown; Kinnelon; Macopin; Newfoundland; Oak Ridge; Green Pond; Marcella; Woodstock; Petersburg; Milton; Lake Stockholm; Beaver Lake; Franklin; Ogdensburg; Hardistonville; Vernon; Vernon Valley; Highland Lake; Glenwood
Please keep in mind I have no idea whether some of the towns listed above are impossible to touch let alone rent....I just do not know those areas at all. My husband and I took a drive out to Ogdensburg last summer and thought it was pleasant little town. A little dead but still nice....enjoyed the wild bunnies hopping around everywhere!
Please go through that list above and tell me which towns would seem like nice affordable kid friendly areas to live in. What are the school systems like for any of the towns mentioned above? We have 2 cars so if we could park both vehicles without having to deal with street sweepers and other issues it would be a HUGH PLUS! Also if there is a 24 hr store open not too far from town would be another huge plus ie Walgreens, Pathmark.
Looking for some sort of quality of life. Although looking to rent, I am not looking to be stacked on top of all of our next door neighbors...please nothing like Dover! I had enough of living like that when we lived in West New York, NJ. I would like a backyard that we would be given permission for our kids to play in. Maybe a town lake or town pool that we can all go swimming in...EVEN ADULTS! And I don't mind paying a fee in order to swim.
Well anyway I think this is a good starting thread. I guess I can always add stuff I think of later.
if I was you, i would be looking in Pompton Lakes and Wanaque. affordable, yet good towns and not that far from roxbury or greenwood lake. probably about 35-45 minutes from pearl river
maybe, but I have a feeling that they dont. Hillbillies cant construct sentences like the one she did, and dont really have interest in computers, so I would say they are not hillbillies.
I live in Lake Stockholm, very affordable, I am in the Jefferson Township side, not hardyston . Its a nice choice for what your looking for. Kids are really happy and normal here, all the areas you pretty much mentioned are good. SOme are more expensive than others for example Fayston Lakes, thats in Kinnelon is not too cheap to rent. I would just steer clear of Hewitt, and UGL. The rest are all fine.
If you're still looking, check White Meadow Lake in Rockaway Township. All homes there are part of the country club which has a lake for recreation, also the town runs a beach at Mt Hope pond during the summer and I-80 & Rt 513 is right there.
It's true, our good friends definitely have some hillbillie looking characters living near them. I don't mind them being within the same town as me as long as the ones that are on my immediate block have all of their teeth and aren't raging alcoholics or into drugs or have a bunch of junk/rusting vehicles piling up all around their property. Actually I would prefer not to live on any of the roads connected to Lake Shore Drive (except Warwick Turnpike...that one's okay. In fact there's an area near a baseball field right off of Warwick Turnpike in Upper Greenwood Lake near Moe? I think that looks cute) because this is the area that our friends live at in Upper Greenwood Lake and I want to avoid a situation where the next door neighbor is within walking distance and always barging in unexpectantly. Actually now that I think about it I think I need some extra distance between us (this is my husband's best friend, more like brothers actually, so just imagine the theme song playing in their heads like a broken record is probably "Five Hundred Miles" by the Proclaimers LOL!) so the Upper Greenwood Lake section of Hewitt is off limits lol. The rest of Hewitt and West Milford remain possibilities though.
Thank you for the compliment on my writing stevemorse I grew up in a pretty nice area with a good school system (in fact it's part of the "golden coast" now and we are not able to afford apartments there) and my husband, with the exception of Totowa and Oakland, grew up in some not so great cities but he never knocks the fact that he had to live there because he always says he had a lot of fun while in them. He attended Saint Benedict's Preparatory School and took full advantage of the education provided. We've both have just really had enough with the hustle and bustle and annoyances of living in cities ie street sweepers.
I am going to try to get my husband to take us on Sunday drives (whenever possible) around those areas from now until we've settled on an area. Can someone recommend us roads/routes to drive along? For example Dingo99 recommended Pompton Lakes and Wanaque. Dingo99, could you perhaps recommend us some main roads that come to mind that run through those towns. Both roads that show off the towns' businesses as well as roads that show the towns beauty. And stevemorse could you do the same for Lake Stockholm. By the way is the Hardyston side of Lake Stockholm not all that great? Or do you think it's just a little too far out of the way for us?
Also, are there any disgustingly overdeveloped areas in Sussex County that resemble Passaic County's Clifton, Passaic, and Paterson? Or any others in Morris County besides Dover? Or any towns that look like they are on their way to resembling the aforementioned cities?
Forgot to mention in my opening message that we are looking at these towns also with the purpose of hopefully one day buying in whatever town we decide on renting in. In a way we'll be testing the area out ie commute to work, school system, people before we commit to a mortgage.
What other good questions do you think I should be asking the readers to answer?
Oh I know! Okay I like country music and the country music station by me used to be 103.5 FM but then KTU took over the station. The country music station switched to another frequency but it was never the same again and eventually was discontinued from the radio and my life until the TV station 'CMT' came along....and satellite radio, which we haven't subscribed to yet. Out of the towns I mentioned in my opening message, which of those have access to FM country music stations (you know....the good old fashioned free kind)?
It's true, our good friends definitely have some hillbillie looking characters living near them. I don't mind them being within the same town as me as long as the ones that are on my immediate block have all of their teeth and aren't raging alcoholics or into drugs or have a bunch of junk/rusting vehicles piling up all around their property. Actually I would prefer not to live on any of the roads connected to Lake Shore Drive (except Warwick Turnpike...that one's okay. In fact there's an area near a baseball field right off of Warwick Turnpike in Upper Greenwood Lake near Moe? I think that looks cute) because this is the area that our friends live at in Upper Greenwood Lake and I want to avoid a situation where the next door neighbor is within walking distance and always barging in unexpectantly. Actually now that I think about it I think I need some extra distance between us (this is my husband's best friend, more like brothers actually, so just imagine the theme song playing in their heads like a broken record is probably "Five Hundred Miles" by the Proclaimers LOL!) so the Upper Greenwood Lake section of Hewitt is off limits lol. The rest of Hewitt and West Milford remain possibilities though.
Thank you for the compliment on my writing stevemorse I grew up in a pretty nice area with a good school system (in fact it's part of the "golden coast" now and we are not able to afford apartments there) and my husband, with the exception of Totowa and Oakland, grew up in some not so great cities but he never knocks the fact that he had to live there because he always says he had a lot of fun while in them. He attended Saint Benedict's Preparatory School and took full advantage of the education provided. We've both have just really had enough with the hustle and bustle and annoyances of living in cities ie street sweepers.
I am going to try to get my husband to take us on Sunday drives (whenever possible) around those areas from now until we've settled on an area. Can someone recommend us roads/routes to drive along? For example Dingo99 recommended Pompton Lakes and Wanaque. Dingo99, could you perhaps recommend us some main roads that come to mind that run through those towns. Both roads that show off the towns' businesses as well as roads that show the towns beauty. And stevemorse could you do the same for Lake Stockholm. By the way is the Hardyston side of Lake Stockholm not all that great? Or do you think it's just a little too far out of the way for us?
Also, are there any disgustingly overdeveloped areas in Sussex County that resemble Passaic County's Clifton, Passaic, and Paterson? Or any others in Morris County besides Dover? Or any towns that look like they are on their way to resembling the aforementioned cities?
Forgot to mention in my opening message that we are looking at these towns also with the purpose of hopefully one day buying in whatever town we decide on renting in. In a way we'll be testing the area out ie commute to work, school system, people before we commit to a mortgage.
What other good questions do you think I should be asking the readers to answer?
Oh I know! Okay I like country music and the country music station by me used to be 103.5 FM but then KTU took over the station. The country music station switched to another frequency but it was never the same again and eventually was discontinued from the radio and my life until the TV station 'CMT' came along....and satellite radio, which we haven't subscribed to yet. Out of the towns I mentioned in my opening message, which of those have access to FM country music stations (you know....the good old fashioned free kind)?
Thanks for the quick responses!
"Z"
You know what look around near Boonton, this is a good area. Especially the Rockaway Valley area, Between Greenpond Road, and Kinnelon Road. ALso there is a great little area very affordable next to boonton, and mountain lakes called DENVILLE!! I think I just hit the perfect spot. You can jump right on 287 to Pearl River thru Boonton. Go on the side where the down town is not crossing route 10 ro route 46. In otherwords nice little lake communities next to St. Claires Hospital. This area is affordable and nice no hillbillies. This perfect, walkable downtown, cute check it out!!!!! Trust me!
To the OP, I too am from that Golden Coast. I went to Leonia High School, probably with you (yikes! Small world), and you are right, It is totally unaffordable. I too now am looking at a home in Landing. I have 2 kids 1 year and 2.5 and need good schools. Is Landing worth it? I read else where that it was sort of slummy?
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