Was recently deeded 2 Marriott timeshares. Could use some advice

I am completely new to timeshare. My parents recently transferred ownership to deeded units both at the Royal Palms in Orlando. They are each 2 bedrooms, one in the red season and one in white. I have minimal interest in vacationing in Orlando. My understanding is I have 2 options. I can sign up for Interval International and exchange the units along with paying the various transfer fees. If I go this route do I have a reasonable option of exchanging for other Marriott locations (or other similar type resorts)? Alternately, I can opt to enroll these units (paying $2,395) and receive 3,800 Points. Looking at the various points charts for resorts I am interested in (for example the locations in Aruba or Hawaii) it looks like I would have enough points to book something.

Questions - Would you recommend I convert to points? It seems there are some downsides if you have a home resort you really like but I am not sure it applies in my case. If I were to enroll, should I try increase my total points to be above 4,000 (move from Owner to Select level)? Is it worth it? Could I just buy these points resale or is there going to be an issue with combining enrollment points and points from a resale or even just buying direct from Marriott?

Thank you

No offence to Redweek, but I would copy and paste your whole question and put it on the www.tug2.net website. There are a number of free forums, including Marriott, which are monitored by serious timeshare owners. They have years of owning experience and are experts at the in's and out's of timesharing. The website is free to participate, and you can get help with just about any question. Good luck.

It truly all depends on when you look to travel. If you have kids and need to travel during the school vacations the points won't bring you the value compared to your maintenance fees for both weeks but if you can travel in shoulder season or off-season then you could do ok with points. However if you can travel in the off-seasons and can either plan well in advance (12 months out) or on very short notice (within 60 days before check-in when trade value of all Marriott weeks become equal) then I'd just sign up with II because if the red is truly a platinum week it would trade well in II with advance planning and the white week could as well if you planned well. If again you are a school calendar family then II will get you places with the platinum week but the white week would have little use in trading.

Points in my opinion are the worst idea the industry has ever come up with for the buyer. They are great for the developers. They can raise the points needed for an exchange at their free will and increase maintenance fees and assessments to fill their coffers. Read through the forums and you will hear all the stories about how people can't get a decent exchange for their points only to be told that they need to purchase more points and pay higher fees that go with them. Do your homework and ask a lot of questions before committing yourself to a lifetime of never ending increases in fees.

Thank you all for the responses! I appreciate it.