  We present and discuss optical imaging of 76 AGN which represent the
2MASS-selected sample for z<0.3, from a full list of 243. They are found to
have dust-obscured nuclei, residing in host galaxies that show a high fraction
(>70%) of tidal interactions. The derived luminosities of the AGN and host
galaxies are similar to traditionally-selected AGN, and they may comprise some
40% of the total AGN population at low redshift. We have measured a number of
host galaxy properties, and discuss their distributions and interrelations. We
compare the 2MASS AGN with optically selected samples and the IRAS-selected
galaxy samples, and discuss the differences in terms of merger processes and
initial conditions.
