Also, the leach lines can get blocked too.

As a real estate agent I try to discuss a lot of metrics (DOM, %list price, number of expired/withdrawns) at the regional as well as neighborhood or block level, so I hope my clients take this as another piece of information to consider when investing.  

Will all actions be blocked by the bank? 

On top of that you can go from a great buy to a bad buy in one block because of school zones.

College is just a few blocks away, and it's a 4 bedroom single family.

And the letter categorization of neighborhoods can be helpful but so much is specific to the location (down to the block and neighbors) and your personal comfort level and goals ... many of the urban areas in the US, for example, look drab and sad to me but no doubt investors are making money there. 

I have a leasing office and all my properties are a block or 2 apart right now.

We bought one down the block from him last month.

However, I feel like I'm at a road block.  

I live downtown Newark, and while where I live is cool, it can get very dangerous just a few blocks away.