Oakhurst, Wanamassa and Wayside do not share the same housing age or drainage exposure. A 1970s split in Wayside and an 1880s house in Wanamassa need different approaches, and the Deal Lake shoreline floods on a different schedule than blocks inland.
Neighbourhoods
Three unincorporated sections, not one town
Ocean Township is really Oakhurst, Wanamassa and Wayside — three unincorporated communities inside one township, each with its own character and its own price band, running from roughly $300k to over $1m. They do not share housing stock and they do not share drainage. The section is the useful piece of information on the phone; the township name on its own narrows very little.
Source: Prodigy Real Estate — Ocean Township neighbourhood profile
Housing stock
Post-war stock with a much older layer underneath
Most of the township is post-war single-family Colonial, Cape Cod and split-level, with a heavy build-out through the 1970s. Underneath that there is still a Victorian and Gilded Age layer going back to the township’s 1849 formation. A 1970s split and an 1880s house need entirely different things, and both are normal here.
Source: Prodigy Real Estate — Ocean Township housing profile
Drainage & flood
The Deal Lake side of the township floods
Ocean Township is one of the seven municipalities on the Deal Lake Commission, and the 2018 storm — the heaviest rain the county had seen in more than a century — put water into Colonial Terrace and the Wanamassa side along with neighbouring Interlaken and Asbury Park. Almost the whole lake shoreline is developed, much of it inside the 100-year flood plain.
Source: Deal Lake Commission; NJDEP Deal Lake Watershed Plan
Streets & landmarks
- Oakhurst
- Wanamassa
- Wayside
- Colonial Terrace
- Deal Park
Ocean Township is really three places — say Oakhurst, Wanamassa or Wayside, not just the township name.
