With that said, here is an opinion: You cannot write off anything you use as a personal residence.

Has it been your primary residence for 2 years or more?  

I am going to assuming it's a nice house if it was your primary residence and it's in a nice location. 

I am a complete rookie to the real estate scene, I am looking to house hack for my first residence out of college.

@Edgar Duarte Selling now under the primary residence exclusion avoids capital gains taxes, allowing you to reinvest the $500K equity in diversified assets like index funds or additional rental properties.

I just acquired one from a PM where they were charging a tenant a resident benefit package and a building protection plan.  

Are you/your partner(s) foreign nationals or non-permanent resident aliens?

Hi Jake, the fact that you're a US citizen/resident has absolutely no bearing on the process.

I buy homes as a primary residence with 5% down and move into them keeping my previous as a rental and the area that I live doesn't have new builds that would work for us, otherwise I would buy a new build. 

The behavior is a bit off, but not surprising for a mom & pop landlord.We tell our residents exactly what we need from them for the application.