These areas must be experiencing lots of population growth as well as job growth with the goal of being right in the middle of the "path of progress".

I'll then reach out to BP agents/investors in those areas to talk about the market (cap rates, crime, neighborhoods, schools, population growth, etc).

However it is your and your wife's company to grow the reputation you deserve.

Terrific job growth with home prices that are NOT just steadily declining.

What are some surefire ways to profit from such growth?

This is in an area of high growth.

Northern California... trees can be huge with yields of 100k NET per acre. 3. western red cedar  hi price lower volume per acre grows in the watersheds of ORegon WA BC4. tie between old growth Yellow pine east slope of cascades and  J log  prime doug fir WA OR BC    I have taken 400k net dollars off of 10 acres of prime growing ground in Oregon.. that's 400k in my jeans in 5 working days.5. all the other lesser sorts of doug fir and pine..

You have to be very good at operational growth and disciplined.

Although Sac is more affordable than the OC, I'm still uncertain about its growth potential.  

Ours are fairly specific.Also forgot to mention that I keep a pretty active eye on school board related stuff with regard to zoning - as well as demographics, population estimates, expected growth areas and new housing projections provided by the board - which is helpful sometimes when it comes to negotiating deals and evaluating them - especially since we're primarily looking to hold.