From the news-you-can-use point of view, that's about it in 2nd Home Living, a new bimonthly magazine for second home owners. The magazine is produced by Kansas City-based publisher Warren Maus, his first under the MausMedia name.

But being light on news is not necessarily a bad thing.

Most second home buyers, 51 percent, said they use their second home as a vacation getaway, while only 18 percent plan to retire in it, 16 percent use it to diversify investments, and 15 percent rent it out for income, according to "The 2002 National 2002 National Association Of Realtors Profile of Second-Home Owners".

And, reflecting what most second home buyers want, the new magazine flaunts the second-home good life with lifestyle features ranging from carving a 21st Century barn out of a 19th Century farmhouse in Weston MO to a first-person account of living in a Poso Park, CA cabin in the mountains on the edge of the Sequoia National Forest.

Rather than a how-to magazine for those with second-home acquisition desires, 2nd Home Living is a slick peek inside the lives of those who've already achieved their vacation home dreams.

It's also good reading for those who want to vicariously live the second home life they've yet to attain.

Hoping to cash in on the growth of the second home market, the new magazine targets "well-to-do baby boomers with $150,000 plus incomes who own second homes," says publisher Maus.

NAR's second home owner profile confirmed the long-term rise in the second-home market, with sales rising from 264,000 units in 1991 to 359,000 units in 2001.

Six percent of all home sales each year are second homes and the U.S. Census Bureau report on residential vacancies estimates there were 3.6 million vacant seasonal homes in the third quarter of 2002, up from 3.1 million in 1990 and only 1.7 million in 1980.

Other Census data shows there are 9.2 million homes held by owners in additional to their primary residences and NAR estimates as many as 7 million of them are vacation homes.

Like other shelter magazines, the first issue of the $4.95 2nd Home Living publication offers mouth watering photography, practical advice and informational appetizers -- cooking, decorating, entertaining and gardening tips -- as well as "Nuts and Bolts" advice on caring for second homes and "Taking Care of Business" a panel of experts' answers to hard questions about real estate, insurance, taxes, security and second home marketing.

If the first edition is any indication of what's to come, the publication's most filling feature is its staple of easily digested lifestyle stories about vacation homes. The first issue looks at homes in Kiawah Island, SC; a historical Victorian in Aspen, CO; and a retreat in Windsor, FL along with the Weston and Poso Park homes.

Subscribers will also have the opportunity to list their property for sale, rent or exchange.

Some 80,000 copies of the first issue were mailed nationwide, largely to the primary residences of second-home owners who fit the target-market demographic. Another 5,000 copies are on sale at newsstand and other magazine outlets. The largest circulation went to California, followed by Texas, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

There's also a RealtyTimes.com connection.

"We've read all your columns in Realty News (sic) related to the second-home market and have even used a couple of them in building our case with funders," said Maus.