Make possible to remove single value inline entity reference

I went ahead with single value inline entity reference and added extra code via hook_form_alter() to remove single value inline entity reference when their fields are empty... it works for my client's site now but I do not feel that it is optimal and wonder if there is a better way of doing this or there are plans for single value inline entity reference to cater for these use case?

What I have done so far:

1. Content-type created with optional single value inline entity reference field.
2. Added extra form submit handlers with hook_form_alter():

function MYMODULE_form_MY_FORM_ID_form_alter(&$form, &$form_state, $form_id) {
  array_unshift($form['actions']['submit']['#submit'], 'MYMODULE_form_submit');
  $form['actions']['submit']['#submit'][] = 'MYMODULE_form_submit_delete_reference';
}

3. I added 2 submit handlers as the first one calls before anything else and deletes the referenced entity, and the second one actually removes the reference to the entity.

function MYMODULE_form_submit(&$form, &$form_state) {
$node_wrapper = entity_metadata_wrapper('node', $form['#node']);
$condition = SOME_CONDITION_TO_DETECT_IF_THE_FIELD_IS_BLANK;
  if ($condition) {
    // Remove any product reference when editing a node.
    if ($form['#node']->nid) {
      $ief_id = $form['field_product_ref']['und']['#ief_id'];
      $product_id = $node_wrapper->field_product_ref->product_id->value();
      $form_state['inline_entity_form'][$ief_id]['delete'][] = $product_id;
      foreach (element_children($form['#node']->field_product_ref['und']) as $delta) {
        unset($form_state['inline_entity_form'][$ief_id]['entities'][$delta]);
      }
      // Also mark the reference for deletion.
      $form_state['temporary']['MYMODULE']['remove_product_reference'] = TRUE;
    }
    // Prevent reference from being created when this is for a new node.
    else {
      unset($form['field_product_ref']);
      unset($form_state['values']['field_product_ref']);
    }
  }
}

function MYMODULE_form_submit_delete_reference(&$form, &$form_state) {
  if ($form_state['temporary']['MYMODULE']['remove_product_reference']) {
    $node = node_load($form['#node']->nid);
    $node->field_product_ref = array();
    node_save($node);
  }
}

I would think that the second submit hook is less than optimal, as it is potentially writing to the database a second time?