I’ve thought about doing this too. I lived there for a couple years and loved it. There is so much coastline and so few people that oceanfront/oceanview properties can be reasonably affordable. Couple that with pleasant weather and it’s tough to beat.
The NZ govt doesn’t have many restrictions on foreign ownership, but banks there won’t lend money on a property owned by a foreigner. So you’d have to pay cash, or get residency status, or find a lender here in the States that would work with you.
I do my daydreaming on http://www.realestate.co.nz/
You can get condos in Auckland that cash flow. I’m not too familiar with vacation rental economics.
Properties there didn’t go down much in price during the global economic storm and the NZ dollar is pretty strong right now, so bargains are hard to find at the moment. In fact the govt there is worried about how high prices are affecting young people- for example see http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10733891
The recent earthquakes that destroyed Christchurch haven’t helped affordability either
